The Lost RED Team
by Jay1393
Summary: [FREAK FORTRESS] Follow the story through Lucien's eyes as his team undergoes a horrible fate. [PREQUEL]
1. Part 1

The Lost RED Team is the prequel to my first fic Freak Fortress.  
'S highly recommended that ya read Freak Fortress first if ya haven't already.

* * *

One beep. Two beeps. Three beeps. Music to the Engineer's ears as he happily relaxes in his nest in the courtyard surrounded by his level three sentry, level three dispenser, and a level three teleporter exit. That silly enemy Scout has yet to even **reach** the L-Shaft entrance to the Intelligence Room and he sure can't go down the Spiral entrance while the Demoman is there. Over their speakers it is announced that the enemy Intelligence has been dropped and not a second later the teleporter glows and the Scout drops over by the dispenser, the boy a bloody mess.

"What in Sam Hill happened over there, boy?" the Texan asks him.

"Man, their freakin' Heavy came out 'a nowhere an' started poundin' me with bullets! I couldn't do nothin', so when I saw your teleporter I dropped the Intel an' came 'ere ta heal," he explains as the dispenser's blue glow encases the boy and heals his wounds.

"That's some mighty quick thinkin', Scout. Make sure you get back over there as soon as ya can," the Engineer tells him and relaxes again, keeping an eye out for his teammate's counterpart. That boy came running through the courtyard at least four times with a different tactic to try to break the Engineer's nest on his own, but of course he failed every time. Gotta give the stubborn boy credit, but where is he now? It's been a while since he's tried running through. The Engineer doesn't have much time to think about it as he feels a sudden sharp pain in his back, a pain he knows all too well. He turns his head slowly and finds that his teammate has turned into a smirking enemy Spy. The Frenchman pushes the Texan off his knife and quickly ducks behind the dispenser before the sentry can pinpoint his location. In only seconds he disguises himself as the enemy Engineer and saps all three buildings, then leans against the wall to light up a smoke. As soon as the buildings break, Scout comes out from the corner and laughs triumphantly as if he did all the work.

"**Dat's** what I'm talkin' about! Thanks, pally!" he waves to Lucien before running up the stairs and down into the Intelligence Room. Their Demoman doesn't even notice as Scout grabs their Intelligence and sprints back up the stairs. Lucien follows the boy through the lower battlements, making quick backstabs on the Medic and Heavy duo just before they reach an Übercharge. It wasn't entirely necessary as Scout is already across the roofless bridge and back into their own base, but oh what fun it is for Lucien to kill an enemy just before their moment in the spotlight.

"Success! We have captured the enemy Intelligence!" the Administrator announces for RED. Lucien can hear his team celebrate across the bridge while their enemies quickly flee to spare themselves last second critical deaths. He looks upwards to where the Sniper would usually stand and sees the man running towards the respawn for protection. Silly bushman. With a smirk Lucien pulls out his favorite Ambassador and gives the man a critical headshot just before he can turn the corner. He chuckles to himself and tucks his gun away before joining his team back at their base.

Reliable Excavation Demolition, better known as RED, is home to the top nine mercenaries in Badlands. Very rarely have they ever lost a battle against their enemies, Builders League United, better known as BLU. Each victory is celebrated with a good dinner, some drinks, and congratulations all around. Lucien is the focus for tonight's celebration, his strategies proving success in today's mission, but of course everyone has done their part in winning the battle.

"I would like to take this time and **personally** congratulate each member of this fine team of men! Engi, you were real good out there. Had the **perfect** nesting place to keep our Intelligence safe," Soldier compliments the Texan. Engineer gives a sheepish grin and replies, "Aw, shucks, you were good out there too, mister." Soldier returns with a proud grin and continues the rest of his speech more shortly. "The rest of you did good, too. We had some real good teamwork out there, especially from you, crouton."

"Merci, Soldier, but I was not zhe one who captured zhe enemy Intel, air-blasted rockets away, headshot a fully charged Medic, or any ozher non-Engineer-related zhings," Lucien remarks with a smirk, causing chuckles from his teammates.

"Da, but leetle Soldier und Engineer are good friends! Make good team like Doktor und I," Heavy says with a proud grin.

"Yeah, yeah, you're all real buddy-buddy, ain'tcha?" Scout comments, only to receive a bop on the head from Sniper. "Be noice, Spazzy."

"Ya don't have ta freakin' hit me, man! An' I'm not a spazz!" the runner complains.

"Quit yer frettin' over a little nickname, boyo. Ye give us much worse names than that," Demoman tells him before consuming a large gulp from his bottle of DeGroot's Rum, a beautiful concoction from his ancestors back in 1680. Pyro nods with a "mhmpf" and Scout pouts at them both, but keeps quiet.

"Vell zhen, if ve are all done celebrating for zhe night, I suggest you all go to bed early in preparation for your checkups tomorrow," Medic announces and soon after the team cleans up their celebration before parting ways for the night. Lucien is not as eager to turn in for the night as the others. Instead he steps outside and leans against the wall of Sniper's nest as he has his nightly smoke. The night is fairly nice as it usually is around this time of year, but of course it will become colder soon. Tomorrow is their one day off of the week before the rotation around Badlands continues from Dustbowl to Well, then Gravelpit, Badwater Basin, Thunder Mountain, and then back to Teufort once more. Such a ridiculous schedule for what is supposed to be an all-out war, but any questions are forgotten when the paychecks arrive.

"Havin' yer noightly smoke, eh mate?" comes a voice from below. Lucien does not have to bother looking down to see the man the thick Australian accent belongs to.

"Oui, and you are... doing whatever it is you do at night before bed. Spying on me perhaps?" Lucien asks, smirking down at the Aussie as he exhales smoke. Sniper chuckles and readjusts his hat.

"That's your job, mate. Th' only spoiyin' Oi ever do is lookin' fer enemy heads. Anyway, th' weather seems noice t'noight, so Oi thought Oi'd come outsoide fer a bit. Li'l hard not t' notice yer smokin'," he explains with his own grin.

"Zhat is true I suppose," Lucien comments and continues sucking on his cancer. Sniper pulls out his own pack of cancer from his vest and lights up a smoke, enjoying the first puff and sighing in content.

"Oi know Solly already covered it earlier with 'is long, long speech about th' whole team, but Oi wanted t' congratulate ya meself. Really, Oi think yer th' main reason why we're always winnin'," the Aussie compliments with a chuckle.

"How kind of you, mon ami. Merci," the Frenchman replies with a smile. "You were good as well, bushman. I am sure zheir Medic is upset wizh bozh of us."

"_Heh heh heh..._ Oi'm sure he is, mate."

Lucien and Sniper continue smoking in silence, enjoying the nicotine and the peacefulness of the night. Even after they have finished, the two continue chatting about plans for their upcoming battle in Dustbowl. There are plenty more open areas than in Teufort, thus the two perform duo strategies to ensure amazing support for their team along with flawless victory. As soon as their plans are made, they say their good-nights and return inside to settle down in their own rooms. Lucien takes his time stripping his suit piece by piece until he's in his skivvies. Before going to bed he instead walks to his desk and picks up a small framed picture of a girl no older than five. Her light brown hair is tied in two adorable pigtails, though the front of her hair curls around her face and to her chin. He can see the smile in her bright blue eyes as she's happily showing off her new purple- and lavender-striped dress. Written next to her in the empty space of the picture is the name "Isabelle", in his own handwriting of course, and then towards the bottom in a child's handwriting is "Je t'aime, Papa!" with a perfect colored-in red heart. Lucien gives a warm, but sad smile.

"_Ma belle petite fille... Ah, comme tu me manques tellement... Je t'aime aussi, Isabelle..."_

Lucien kisses the girl's forehead and saddens at the feel of cold glass instead of warm skin. He sets the picture back down on his desk and hums the children's song _Neige, Neige Blanche_ to himself as he goes to sleep.


	2. Part 2

The following day of ceasefire begins as it normally does with the routine checkups from the team's wonderful doctor. These checkups usually take place early in the morning, allowing the team to have the rest of the day to do whatever they wish after their appointments are over. That is not possible today because as soon as the checkups were finished, the team had been told to board the train to a peculiar destination, a destination unknown. Lucien watches through the window as the train rides over unfamiliar tracks and he frowns. This is too suspicious and strange, but it was a direct order that they could not ignore. The majority of the team is high on their guard, except for Scout who continues to say it is just a "super secret awesome mission" that BLU cannot handle. Naïve child.

"You guys are too freakin' tense, ya know that? Seriously, I'm sure it's just an awesome mission for us. When's anythin' gone wrong before?" Scout asks them.

"Zhat is **exactly** vhy ve are vorried, Herr Scout. Our schedules, our daily routines; not **vonce** haff zhey ever changed until now. Ve haff every reason to be vorried," Medic explains to the boy, his brow furrowed with worry. Heavy places his massive hand carefully on the doctor's shoulder.

"Let's try not vorry too much, Doktor. Ve don't know vhat vill happen," he assures the German, only receiving a sigh in response.

"I'm tellin' ya, it's **nothin'**. An' even if it is somethin' bad or whatever, we can take care of it, right? We're the baddest guys in the—... in the... worl—"

Scout falls out of his seat and lies unconscious on the floor. The rest of the mercenaries jump up in alarm and quickly Lucien can feel the panic amongst his teammates. When Medic falls next, Lucien quickly clamps his hand over his nose and mouth. There is something in the air and he can feel it already in his system. Before he can have a chance to warn the others they are already beginning to fall until he is the last one awake. Lucien curses to himself and tries to keep calm as he looks for an escape. He can't find the vents that are pushing the gas into their car and the windows are locked. Throwing his teammates off a quickly moving train would be impossible to do as well. In desperation he pulls out his balisong and tries to break the window, but the glass barely chips. Through the waste of energy and the need to breathe, Lucien soon finds himself succumbing to the gas and joins his teammates in unconsciousness.

Screams and shouts fill Lucien's ears before he can open his eyes, angry shouts in German and... sobbing? Scout is not sobbing, is he? Finally Lucien opens his eyes and the sight shocks him. He and his team are inside an evil-looking laboratory almost similar to the medical bay. The doctor would most likely have run around like a child in a candy store if it weren't for their predicament of being strapped down onto tables. Lucien turns his head left and right to see them all lined up, but two members are missing.

"Spoi! You alroight, mate?" Sniper asks him, the Aussie strapped down on the table separating Lucien from the rest of the team.

"Oui. What is going on? Where are we?" the Frenchman asks.

"Not in a good place, mate. We're in real danger 'ere an'..." Sniper trails off with a sad frown. "We're down by two..."

"Down by two...?" Lucien lifts his head as best as he can to count his teammates. Engineer is all the way at the end, then Soldier, Scout, Demoman, Medic, then Sniper and himself. Heavy and Pyro are missing, but where have they gone? "Where are zhe ozhers?"

"They are right in front of you," replies an old man's voice. Lucien lifts his head once more, looking ahead this time and sees the owner of their team, Redmond Mann, sitting in his wheelchair and looking down at two tables with a frown. Upon those tables are Heavy and Pyro, but they are not moving.

"**You are a monster!**" Medic screams out to him.

"What have you done to zhem?! What are you doing to **us**?!" Lucien exclaims.

"I have come up with a brilliant idea that will have us win against my damn brother! I am going to turn you all into **super beings**!" the kooky old man explains with the widest smile.

"Our consent would've been bloody nice, ye know! Ye can't win if we're all **dead**!" Demoman shouts.

"No, no, those two were given the wrong formula. Don't worry, I'll replace them later. This time will be perfect!" Redmond announces before giving orders to a couple men in dark coats and hats. They walk over to Engineer's table and begin to remove the straps, then they take him away. This makes Soldier snap.

"HEY! Bring him back here **right now** or I'll **climb my way down your throats and tear out your very souls**!" he exclaims darkly. Lucien almost felt chills from the lunatic.

"Don't you fret, mister. I'll be okay," are Engineer's last words with an unsure smile. Lucien watches them closely as the Texan is taken to a large chamber at the front of the room. As they push him inside, Lucien hurries to find any of his weapons, but grumbles when he feels he's been stripped. Helplessly he and his team watch, some shouting as the door is shut behind Engineer and he is no longer in view. Redmond rolls over to a panel, double checks the screen above, then proceeds to pull a lever. Static electricity emits from the top and the team cringes with the screams from inside. Lucien wonders how they managed to force their largest teammate inside without fuss. Soon the static dies and the screams cease. The members of Reliable Excavation Demolition fear the worst as the door opens, but a lifeless body does not fall. Instead the Texan steps outside of the chamber and the sight of him leaves even Soldier speechless. The once normal head is now much larger and his face is deformed into what resembles a woman's private area.

"E-Ev—... Evila mi...? Truh daeh ym seod yhw...? Gni-Gniyas I ma tahw?! Sallef?"

Lucien and the others cannot understand a word their Engineer is saying, but they are all too shocked to really think about it. Redmond seems displeased with the turnout and as Engineer looks around he soon finds his reflection in a random shiny object. The sight of himself horrifies him enough to make the man fall to his knees and sob.

"E-Ecaf ym...! Ecaf ym...! Retsnom a mi!"

Suddenly Soldier screams and the American has actually managed to flip himself and the table so he could be on his feet, the table strapped only to his upper body. Quickly Redmond's men surround the American to try and sedate him, but Soldier manages to knock most of them away. Unfortunately one manages to move in close to push Soldier back down, then together they roll the American up to the chamber and quickly remove the straps before pushing him inside and closing the door behind him. Soldier's screams and shouts can easily be heard as he pounds his fists on the door, but that quickly ends the moment Redmond pulls the lever again. At first Lucien believes he will come out just as Engineer did, but as the door opens they see nothing has changed, until the man begins moving. Each of his bones emits a **terribly** loud cracking sound, even with the slightest movement.

"I am Painis Cupcake," he announces, then suddenly Soldier drops down onto the floor and slithers directly up to Redmond, his expression angry, "I will **eat your god damn soul**."

Soldier is restrained once again before he can attack anyone and quickly a sedative is shot into his neck. The angry expression slowly leaves his face, then he falls unconscious to the floor. "Well, that was terrifying... Take the subjects into the next room for now," Redmond orders, then both Soldier and Engineer are taken away to a separate room, hopefully one where they will not be experimented on again. Almost half of their team is gone now with two changed and two dead. **Permanently** dead. After being so spoiled with the wonderful invention of respawn, Lucien had forgotten how terrifying true death is.

"I think we have time for one more transformation today, and let's hope he turns out perfect! Grab the boy," Redmond tells his men. Scout begins to scream and struggle as the men approach him and restrain him with ease.

"Fuck! No! Oh god, please don't do this to me! I don't wanna die!" he cries and struggles to get to his team.

"You'll be alright, boyo. We're right here," Demoman tells him calmly, but with a sad look in his eye.

"Yer not gonna die, Spazzy. Oi swear you'll be okay," Sniper chips in. Scout seems to calm down as he's dragged to the chamber, but as he gets closer he begins to freak out again.

"I regret everything! I regret everything I've ever done!" he cries, then the door is shut on him. Redmond pulls the lever and the boy's screams even pierce through Lucien's heart. The door opens and almost immediately Scout jumps out, but he no longer looks like his natural self. The boy's clothes have changed to the color blue, his hair green, and his face is painted white with black under his eyes and a thin, red smile from ear to ear. His regular cap is gone and is replaced with a clown's hat.

"I am Ass Pancakes! I am gonna BONK you!" he announces and gives a wide smile in Redmond's direction. The Scout everyone knows is no longer there.

"Eugh, he's hideous! Please take him away!" Redmond shoos. His men do as they're told, sedating the possibly dangerous clown before dragging the boy into the other room with Engineer and Soldier. "Thank you... Now then, that will be all for today. Clearly I nee—" Redmond pauses for a moment, his gaze blank as if he had just passed, then the small machine attached to his wheelchair gives him a small shock and he returns once more. "I need to ask my scientist to redo the formulas, so I will return to you four tomorrow. My men will take care of you until then."

Redmond's men approach the rest of the team and push their tables down a hallway and into a prison. One-by-one the remaining mercenaries are released from the straps and are pushed into individual cells separated by solid walls. Lucien thought he could try to trick them somehow, maybe slither out of their grasp like the snake he is, but the men were extra careful with him and gave him no opening. The four are left alone to their thoughts, but the silence doesn't last long.

"'Ey Doc... 'M sorry 'bout Heavy... Oi know you two were close mates with yer jobs..." Sniper mumbles to Medic, the German's cell on the right of the Aussie's.

"Danke, Herr Sniper... Oh, mein gott, ve haff to get out of here..." the doctor says hopelessly.

"There anythin' you can do, spook?" Sniper asks the Frenchman in the last cell.

"Non... Zhey have me completely stripped and made sure I would not try anyzhing while moving me in here," Lucien answers with a sigh.

"Looks like we're gon' be here for a while, laddies. Whatever happens, we stick together. We're still a team," Demoman reminds them. Lucien wishes he could feel some kind of hope, but no matter how badly he wants to, hope is not there. Half of their team is gone. Two are dead. Three are changed. Four remain.


	3. Part 3

It was impossible to sleep that night. Lucien couldn't bear the thought of possibly waking up in that chamber and it seems that the others didn't want that as well. All night they had tried to plan some kind of escape and maybe either grab their teammates or come back for them, but nothing was foolproof and Lucien could do nothing to help. Their morning was spent in silence. When Redmond's men came for them later that day, the mercenaries were almost too tired to put up a struggle. Once strapped to their tables, the four were rolled back into the laboratory once more and lined up back into position. Redmond is already there waiting for them with a happy smile.

"Good morning, everyone! Today will be much better for you, I promise," he tells them.

"Is that right? Are ye gon' t' let us go?" Demoman asks.

"Not yet, but you're up next," is the answer before the men take the Scotsman to the chamber. As he's placed inside, Demoman only turns around and proudly shouts, "Guts and glory, lads!" Then the door is shut on him. Lucien looks over at his teammates, taking note that only he, Sniper, and Medic remain. No last minute plans are coming to his mind and time is quickly running out. Then the scent of a cigarette fills his nose. It smells so... welcoming, but he is not hallucinating suddenly, is he? Lucien soon receives his answer as an invisible hand slips over his mouth. He is startled for a moment, but calms down quickly.

"Zhis is quite zhe predicament you are in, _monsieur_," says a voice almost directly at his ear. Lucien turns his head and can barely see his cloaked counterpart, who then disappears completely when his hand removes from his mouth.

"You have no idea, but **you** have to get out of here before zhey notice you," he warns him.

"I'm sure I will be just fine," is the answer before the cloak wears off and the BLU Spy appears, crouching behind the table to keep out of Redmond's and his men's sights.

"How did you even find zhis place?"

"I saw you and your team board a random train yesterday, zhen when you didn't show up to today's battle I followed the tracks."

The door to the chamber opens. Both Spies pause their chat and watch as Demoman steps out in the open. The BLU Spy could easily mistake the Scot for his own teammate if it weren't for the knowledge that the real BLU Demoman was back with his team in Dustbowl, most likely already having the area captured without anyone to defend it. Atop the Demoman's head is a pirate hat with a small treasure chest along with a white pair of shutter shades on his face. Attached to his left arm is an old-fashioned wooden shield and in his hand is a tall, red shako.

"Stout Shako for two refined!" he announces and motions to the hat with a large smile. No one has an idea of what he is talking about and Redmond is displeased.

"Blue again?! I do not want my super beings to be the same color as **his** mercenaries!" he scoffs and orders his scientist to edit the formula. Demoman is ignored and his smile fades to a frown. With a battle cry he charges directly at Redmond, but falls just short of the old man as a tranquilizer is shot directly in his neck. The Scotsman mumbles incoherently as the men drag him to the room with the others.

"What in zhe world...?!"

"Zhis is why you have get out of here while you can! Go, now!" hisses Lucien, but gasps as one of the men appear behind his counterpart. The BLU Spy notices too late and is apprehended before he can move or cloak. Both Frenchmen mutter curses as the BLU is presented to Redmond, his hands held tightly behind his back as another strips him of any and all weapons.

"Ahh, my brother sent you to **spy** on me? Hah! I hope he won't mind if I return you in a **different** condition." Redmond smirks and motions to the chamber after receiving an okay from his scientist. Despite all arguments from the mercenaries, the Spy is dragged to the machine and thrown inside.

"You cannot do zhis to me!" he exclaims as he struggles to get out. "I am not under your contract! Release me **and** zhem!"

"I prefer to finish things I started," is the old man's only comment, then the door is shut. All hope of escaping vanishes with the BLU Spy's screams. Lucien can only hope that the new formula will be easy on him, but when the door opens, the chamber is found empty and leaves everyone stumped. Has he disintegrated? There are absolutely no remains of the Spy, until a de-cloaking sound is heard by Redmond. The once BLU Spy is now dressed in black with a same-colored fez and sunglasses. He is holding a scimitar to Redmond's neck and threatens the men to take a step towards them.

"I will make you **regret** zhe day you put me in zhat machine," he hisses and presses the sword's sharp blade against the old man's neck. Lucien is not sure why his counterpart is hesitating, maybe perhaps to savor the moment of it all, but an expected tranquilizer dart takes him out and he is moved into the other room.

"Well, he troied at least. Poor bloke," Sniper mumbles.

"Ja," Medic sighs and tenses as the men approach him next. Though it has been proven useless multiple times, the doctor struggles against the men as he is pulled to the chamber.

"If you do not let us go **zhis instant**, vhatever I vill become, I **vill kill you**!" he swears to Redmond. His men then surround their boss with the threat, tranquilizers ready as the door is shut on the furious German man. Lucien and Sniper look at each other, the two now the last remaining mercenaries of RED.

"Spoi, whatever happens to us, whether we lose our moinds, memories, or somethin' worse, Oi just want t' say it's been great foightin' with ya. Yer me best mate an' Oi hope we're still a team after this," the Aussie says to Lucien sincerely.

"Merci, mon ami. I wish zhe same. Good luck, bushman," the Frenchman wishes and Sniper smiles.

"Thanks, spook."

The door opens and shows off the German doctor, completely normal, except for the fact that he is on the floor only holding himself up with his hands and his head is enlarged, not as badly as Engineer's, but definitely bigger than normal. Unlike his behavior earlier, Medic refuses to leave the chamber and even becomes territorial as the men approach him.

"Get avay from mein sewer!" he yells at them angrily. Redmond only hits himself in the head.

"That is **not** a sewer... Please get him out of there," he orders. The men approach him slowly, but this angers Medic further and he screams the warning at them once more. The men decide to take precautions and tranquilize the doctor before dragging him away. Sniper and Lucien remain, but unlike the others, Sniper doesn't put up a fight as he's taken to the chamber. As he steps inside he looks directly at Lucien, tips his hat, then the door closes. Lucien hopes the formula will be good to the Australian, though his painful screams make him believe otherwise. As the door opens, Lucien's eyes bulge as Sniper floats out of the chamber, his hands near his head and his legs are bent in the most **horrible** position that would make any man cringe and hold their pride.

"I'm Weaselcake," he introduces with a happy smile.

"No you're not; put him back in! I will **not** have any more of these... **freaks**," Redmond complains and Lucien is shocked to see his friend pushed back into the chamber.

"Take him out of zhere! He has already gone zhrough it!" he demands.

"If he dies, that's his own fault," Redmond merely replies and pulls the lever. Lucien watches the chamber worriedly and thinks the worst when the door opens, but the chamber is empty again. He wonders if the man became something like the BLU Spy, but that thought is erased as Sniper suddenly appears inside the chamber randomly hanging upside-down from the top.

"What's up?" he asks and laughs at his own joke. Redmond is displeased even further.

"Again!" he demands and almost slams the lever down the second the door is closed again. **Three** experiments on **one** person. Lucien pleads that his friend will be okay. The door opens once more and Sniper stands there, but a much darker Sniper. His clothes have gone dark, the man has quickly grown facial hair, and his eyes are the color of crimson blood. He looks at Redmond, gives a smirk, and licks his lips.

"Am Oi perfect for ya **now**, old man? Oi think so," he chuckles and makes his way towards Redmond with the intent to spill gallons of blood. "Go 'head, **tranq** me whoile ya can." And they did exactly that. Sniper also fell victim to the dart like the others and was carried to the other room. Only Lucien remains now, and just as his friend, he did not struggle as he was brought to the chamber. The scent of electricity and hot metal surrounds the large machine and Lucien suddenly wishes he could smoke one last cigarette. Nonetheless, he steps inside and watches the door close in front of him. As Redmond pulls the lever, multiple shocks are sent through his body and cause him to scream in agony. It hurts **terribly** as if his own heart and mind were going to explode out of his body multiple times without end. Then his mind becomes blank and he is suddenly engulfed in darkness, but only for a second or two. Light is shown to him as the door opens and as he steps out he feels... powerful, stronger, but... normal. His mental state is the same and his memories are fine; the only difference he feels is within his abilities that he has even yet to try out. He looks around himself until he finds his own reflection in the machine. His appearance is also the same, though now he is sporting a handsome new fedora.

"I have finally done it!" Redmond exclaims happily and rolls up to Lucien's side. "You are the **perfect** super being! Together you and I can take down my brother and the war will be ours!"

"... Ours?" Lucien looks down at the old man with nothing but anger and disgust. "You have managed to create **one** super being zhrough zhe cost of **two** lives, six forever changed lives, **and** one innocent man. **Nine** sacrifices for **zhis**?" he pauses a moment to motion to himself and frowns. "Consider zhe war lost. I will **never** fight for you again." Lucien then walks away from Redmond with his head held high. The men watch him cautiously, but he pays them no mind as he walks right past them and joins his teammates.

A day passes since the final experiment of the RED mercenaries. No, one day? Two maybe? Or only several hours? Lucien has not been paying too much attention to the time since he and his team have never left the room they have been put in. The room is empty with only white tiled walls and a couple vents, almost like a giant bathroom, but at the very least it is **much** nicer than the rest of the facility and away from that accursed machine, even if the large door is guarded by the men outside. Now that everyone has been changed, there have been no attempts or plans for escape. What's the point when the worst has already happened? **By their own boss**, nonetheless. Lucien feels angrier than he should be, perhaps because of the lack of nicotine and that half of his teammates are now mentally insane and two are gone forever.

"You look loike yer in need of a good smoke," Sniper comments and leans against the wall by his friend's side.

"You have no idea," Lucien sighs and frowns at the sight of his team. Engineer is sitting in a corner of the room with his back to everyone in an attempt to hide his face in shame while Soldier hangs from the ceiling, trying to cheer his best friend up. Demoman is trying to sell his shako to Scout, but the boy only hits him on the head while shouting "BONK!". Medic is curled up awkwardly in the opposite corner of Engineer and as the BLU Spy tries to talk to him out of boredom the doctor only screams at him to get away from his sewer. He gives up and decides to take a place against the wall away from the REDs. Lucien almost pities the poor bastard.

Most of them have given themselves new names upon transformation while Redmond named the rest of them. Engineer has been given the worst name out of the bunch, the first part of his title being replaced with the first part of the word his face has been deformed into. The horrid name has only been said once by Redmond and will not be said again unless it is from his wrinkly lips. Soldier has named himself Painis Cupcake and Scout calls himself Ass Pancakes. The two are alike in their ways with introductions and giving a wide, wide smile. Demoman now calls himself Demo**pan**, though Lucien is not sure why a pan is involved. Then again it makes just about as much sense as "Painis Cupcake" and "Ass Pancakes". The rest of them were given their names by Redmond: he calls Lucien's counterpart Ninja Spy, Medic is now Sewer Medic, Sniper is now Christian Brutal Sniper, and Lucien has been given the name Gentlespy. These names seem more true to their new personas, though Lucien hasn't the slightest idea why Sniper is "Christian".

"What do ya think's gonna happen to us now?" Sniper asks the Frenchman.

"We will eizher die or continue to be experimented on if we keep zhis up," Lucien answers pessimistically.

"Ah, c'mon, that can't really be helped. Look at us, Spoi. We're **freaks**, mate. Half of us aren't even in their roight moinds. If we had no chance whoile we were strapped down, in jail, or when th' other Spoi troied helpin' us, then we definitely got no chance now."

"So you are inadvertently agreeing wizh me."

"Oi—... Bloody hell, yer roight... So all we can do is wait fer somethin' t' happen."

At that moment is when the door opens. A few of the men come in first, each of them armed with more sedatives, then a different man walks in with Redmond rolling in from behind. Lucien recognizes this man as one of the Administrator's messengers, and as the man opens his coat she is right there on the television screen strapped to his torso. It has been a while since any of the mercenaries have last seen her, but her impatient expression seems to never change, though right now as she observes the changed members of Reliable Excavation Demolition she seems almost furious.

"Redmond Mann, **what** have you **done** to my mercenaries?" she asks him bitterly.

"I-I was merely **giving** them some extra strength, to make them become super beings—"

"You have turned them into **freaks**! Do you have any idea— No, this cannot be found out. Ugh, I have to make arrangements..." she pauses and observes the former RED team with a hard frown, then her messenger, Redmond, and his men leave the room. Only Lucien and Sniper paid any attention while the others are preoccupied with whatever activity they could be doing. Lucien was surprised some of them did not go after Redmond when he showed his face, perhaps because the Administrator was present, or perhaps because neither of them were paying any attention and did not notice the old man.

"A visit from the ol' bat 'erself... Now what do ya think's gonna happen to us?"

"Now zhat _mademoiselle_ is involved, somezhing **worse** zhan experiments or deazh."

"Ahh, that's noice..."

The door opens once again, this time with only the messenger and no one else. The Administrator eyes everyone whether they are paying any attention or not, the fury gone and replaced with... excitement? "Gentlemen, you are no longer under Redmond Mann's power or part of Reliable Excavation Demolition. One of you in particular is also no longer part of Builders League United; you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The eight of you are now considered dead to your friends, your families, and will be used in the new events I have planned."

She gives a small, almost sinister smirk and tells her messenger to leave the room. The door closes tightly and Lucien can hear the lock click. He and Sniper look at each other questionably, then a soft hissing noise comes from the vents. Lucien recognizes it now and he hurries to open the door, but he cannot get past the lock. There are no windows to break in this room and slowly his teammates begin to drop like flies, but dear god when Soldier fell from the ceiling Lucien thought he might have died with how loud the cracking of each limb was. Well, maybe not **die**, but at least break every bone in his body. Lucien holds his breath and tries to kick the door down, but he fails. Sniper only chuckles. "Here we go again, mate..." he mumbles before performing an almost perfect face plant on the floor. Lucien narrows his eyes and looks around at his colleagues; all of them dead weights on the floor. It is the train ride all over again and Lucien can't help but literally fall for it again.


	4. Part 4

Unlike the train ride, everything is silent when Lucien wakes up again and this time he is not restricted to a table. In fact he wakes up normally, but with slight soreness from lying in an uncomfortable position for god knows how long. At first he's not sure whether he's truly awake or not after seeing he's surrounded in darkness, but as his eyes adjust he can see a bit of light coming in from somewhere. Lucien sits up off the ground and the first thing he feels is a stinging in his arms. Curiously he rolls up his sleeve and sees a mark in the crease of his arm, most likely from a syringe needle. What happened to them while they slept? More importantly, what have they been injected with? He doesn't feel any different, but whether that should be good or bad worries him. Lucien takes a look at his surroundings and for the first time in a long while he has no idea where he is. He is in what can be assumed as a large cave with a fence stretching halfway up to the roof and blocking the only way out. Aside from the moon outside, there are randomly organized lanterns on the ceiling to help illuminate the cave.

"Mornin', sleepin' beauty," Sniper greets and reaches his hand down. Lucien accepts the help and allows the Aussie to pull him back up on his feet.

"Where zhe hell are we zhis time?" the Frenchman asks.

"No oidea, but at least we're all here," Sniper answers and leads his friend towards the back of the cave where the others are. Scout is the most energetic one happily running and jumping around the large area, but whenever he stands still he's more fidgety than back before the change as if something is missing. Everyone else seems to be content with sitting around and waiting for something to happen, but they are also fidgety.

"What is wrong wizh everyone?" Lucien asks.

"We're all a bit needy. Some of us need a sewer, some need t' eat things, some want t' hit things..." Sniper pauses a moment to lick his lips before he continues, "An' some need t' shed some blood. Oi don't know what it is, Spoi. Oi just... want t' **butcher** someone an' watch their blood flow. Maybe even lick it off me knoife if Oi had one..."

Lucien is almost disturbed with his teammate's sudden brutality, but then he supposes that's why he was given the name Christian Brutal Sniper. A bright light suddenly catches everyone's attention and upon the wall is where two camouflaged panels have parted to reveal a large television screen. The Administrator's amused face appears on it.

"Good evening, my little abominations. Because of what Redmond has done, you will all be part of a new and special event that I have planned for your old enemies and your soon-to-be replacements. With a bit of help I have stopped your aging and have taken your DNA out of all respawn machines. From now on there will be an event every month in which two of you will do battle against either Reliable Excavation Demolition's mercenaries or Builders League United's mercenaries. These events will continue until the eight of you are dead. Starting next week Freak Fortress will begin and none of you will be able to leave with your latest head surgeries. If you take one step outside the boundaries of this area or any area you are brought to, a shock will be implemented from the chips inside your heads. The farther you run, the more intense it will be. In just a few short moments some **things** will be dropped off to you. Do with them what you will. Make yourselves at home."

With that said, the television turns off and the panels move to cover the screen once more. Lucien cannot believe what he has just heard. Just **last week** he had been the number one Spy of Reliable Excavation Demolition, the number one Spy in all of Badlands. He and his team were at the peak of success and overturning the war completely into their favor. Some of them even had plans to return back home to their families soon, maybe even with medals to proudly show off. Lucien was even going to hang up the mask and return home to his little Isabelle. She would jump into his arms and he would swing her around before holding her tightly. Ohh, she must have grown a few more inches since he has last seen her. Now a stranger is going to their home, or perhaps only a letter will be mailed, telling his little Isabelle that daddy will not be coming home. Lucien covers his eyes and takes a deep breath. This is all Redmond's fault. That crazy, walking wrinkly bag of death has destroyed ten lives without any remorse, all for an unnecessary selfish greedy need to further win a war that was already in his favor. Lucien focuses his sorrow into hatred towards that man.

"You okay, mate?" Sniper asks while placing a hand on Lucien's shoulder. He merely shrugs the hand off and removes his hand from his eyes.

"Oui, I am fine. Zhis is just... unbelievable..." he replies with a hard frown.

"Guess it'll sink in whenever this Freak Fortress thing starts... Ahh, now that's just a sad soight," Sniper comments, frowning in Scout's direction. The boy is sitting still for once and looking at his own hands, then down at his new blue clothing and new red shoes. The red painted smile is wide on his face, but the real lips are in a small, thin line. Sniper walks over to him and squats in front of him. Scout only looks up at him, but does nothing else.

"Scout? Spazzy?" Scout frowns at the last name and bops Sniper on the head while saying, "Bonk." Sniper gives a small grin and nudges the boy's shoulder. "There ya go."

Headlights suddenly flash into the area. Heads turn in the direction of the fence as a large moving truck pulls up. Men exit the vehicle, some with those blasted darts while others move to the back of the truck and begin to carry things out. No one takes a step or even moves as a door in the fence opens and the men enter the area with carts of items. The first one holds different weapons, mainly melee weapons from what Lucien can see. The next one holds a couple shovels and manila folders hiding underneath them. The next two carts are the worst. Not even carts, but they are the very same tables with the dead bodies of the lost Heavy and Pyro, both covered with white tarps. The sickening stench of death reaches Lucien's nose easily. The men leave the carts without a word and after locking up the door of the fence they hop back in the truck and leave. Lucien and Sniper look at each other, then they approach the first two carts. Sniper finds himself at the weapons cart and he picks up a stylized kukri composed of reddish wood with a curved edge in front and a serrated edge on its broad side. A sadistic smirk appears on his face as his runs his finger along the edge. One of the weapons seems to have caught Scout's attention and he hops over to pick up a large hammer that is just as blue as he is. He smiles widely and begins to run around with it while screaming "BONK!" with each hit on the walls and the ground. Sniper introduces the other melee weapons to Demoman and Lucien's counterpart; the scimitar has been returned to the Spy along with a second one and Demoman has been given a pan. Well, now that explains why he calls himself Demo**pan**.

Lucien pays attention to the cart in front of him and slips the folders out from underneath the shovels. Each one has a red "[TOP SECRET]" stamped on the front and at first he hesitates to open the top one, but what harm can be done now? He sets down the other folders and opens the one in his hands, only to find a picture of Heavy, the Russian's name, and his title as RED's Heavy Weapons Guy crossed out. Any other files have been removed and the rest of the page had been heavily crossed out and then covered with white out. Lucien's eyes travel to the name and read Mikhail Klimov. He turns his head to look at the larger body covered by the white tarp. It must have been **years** since the giant has heard his true name. Now at least his team can know and put a proper name on the grave. Lucien sets the folder aside and continues going through the others, comparing the pictures and names with each of his teammates. Thomas Smith is Engineer's name and Soldier's name is Steven Rogers. The name seems oddly familiar, but Lucien dismisses it and continues through the files. Scout's name is Billy Lynch, Demoman's name is Robert DeGroot, Medic's name is Heinrich Vogel, Sniper's name is Jack Mason, and the BLU Spy's name is Adrian Laurent. Knowing his counterpart's true name is almost disturbing. The last file is opened and Lucien is presented with his own information. He stares at his picture for a while, admiring his former self as a Spy. Why do those days seem so far away now? He takes note of his title being crossed out and his name standing out further as if implying that he is no longer "Spy", but is now "Lucien Bouvier". The name seems almost foreign to him, but it is definitely his one true name. Lucien goes through the files once more to double check everyone's profiles, but Pyro's file is missing. Surely they would have **some** kind of information for every mercenary, but apparently not. He looks at the smaller body under the other tarp and frowns in pity. Whatever Pyro could have been, whoever Pyro was, now no one will ever truly know.

"Whatcha got there, Spoi?" Sniper asks, his new kukri happily leaning back against his shoulder.

"Files. Nozhing but our names and pictures," Lucien answers and shows the files to his friend. The Aussie goes through the files curiously, then at the end he sets them down on the shovels and frowns.

"Well at least we get t' know each other's true names before we all die," he comments and picks up one of the shovels. Lucien watches him with curiosity as Sniper walks to the tables and begins to pull Pyro's table.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"This is our new "home" now an' we can't jus' leave 'em loike this. Don't worry, Oi'll take care of 'em. For now Oi think you should get everyone introduced to each other, Luc," Sniper answers, throwing a smirk in Lucien's direction before passing him and taking Pyro towards the darker part of their cave. Lucien is stunned for a moment. He has not heard his own name said to him since he was a child. Hearing a shortened version of his name is even stranger. He watches Sniper—No, **Jack**, go, then he approaches the others, starting with Thomas and Steven, the former still trying to hide his face while the latter tries to comfort him. Lucien clears his throat to receive their attention.

"Now zhat we are in zhis position, we have decided to call each ozher by our real names. From what I understand, your names are Thomas and Steven," he explains. Hearing this seems to upset Thomas as he shakes his head.

"Taht em llac tnod... Eromyna nam taht ton ma i... Eromyna ylreporp ti yas neve tnac i...! Samoht em llac... Samoht... Samoht..." He almost begins to sob again, but Steven is at his side immediately. Lucien tries not to visibly flinch with each click of his bones.

"Call him Samoht. Not Thomas," Steven tells him. Lucien does not question him.

"Oui. I am sorry if I upset you... Samoht," he says, hoping to have pronounced the name correctly. One-by-one he visits each of his teammates and talk about their names. Neither of them have any complaints about their names, but then again most of them cannot speak much after their transformations. He dares not to go near Heinrich, as the German seems the angriest and meanest out of all of them right now. Lastly Lucien visits his counterpart, Adrian. He finds the Spy near the front by the fence gazing out at the sky through his sunglasses.

"_Bonjour_," Lucien greets him. Adrian turns his head in the other's direction.

"We 'ave to get out of 'ere. I especially do not belong here. I **must** get back to my team," he explains.

"Did you not hear mademoiselle? We are **all** being replaced. I am sure it is already happening as we speak, but we will find a way out of here."

"Are we discussing a plan now?"

"Non, not at zhe moment. We are getting to know each ozher's names."

"I will not reveal my name."

"I am already aware of your name, _monsieur_. Our files were delivered to us among ozher zhings."

"... Zhen do not tell me my name or yours. I will learn about zhe ozhers eventually."

A German scream breaks their conversation and all eyes turn to Heinrich. The German is circling around Mikhail's table and is screaming at Jack whenever he moves too close. "**Get avay from mein sewer**!" he would scream angrily and circle around the Russian again. Lucien frowns at this and approaches the doctor cautiously. As he moves in too close Heinrich's eyes lock on him and he almost rushes towards the Frenchman as if protecting his territory.

"Get avay from mein sewer!" he shouts.

"Heinrich," Lucien begins and the doctor pauses upon hearing his own name. Slowly Lucien crouches so he can be at Heinrich's level. "Heavy is dead. Zhere is nozhing more zhat can be done—" Heinrich screams again and Lucien waits for it to end before he continues. "We have to give him a proper burial, Heinrich. Mikhail's body cannot stay like zhis."

Heinrich seems to calm down more, his face no longer scrunched up in anger. He looks up at Mikhail's body, then screams again before moving away from the table. Jack waits for the doctor to gain more distance before he grabs the table and continues moving back to the graves. Lucien allows Heinrich to grieve and follows after Jack to help him with Mikhail's body. After tucking the tarp further around him, together they hoist the large body off the table and carefully set him down in the large hole Jack had dug up. Then, with only one shovel present, Lucien stands by and watches Jack fill up the grave. Watching a friend's body disappear like this is... not natural. Both of them still had plenty years left and possibly families of their own, yet now they are gone, and they left in a horrible way.

Jack pats down the dirt with the back of the shovel, then he grabs a nearby rock and slams it down at the head of the grave. With a tight grip on his kukri, he begins to carve into the rock as best as he can, spelling out the name "Mikhail Klimov" in a sloppy writing, but of course no one can write perfect cursive on a rock with a knife. Below the name he writes "Heavy", then he steps back next to Lucien and observes his work. Both graves are against the wall and both have random rocks for headstones. Pyro's stone only has the class name on it, but at least Pyro will be remembered in some way. Lucien and Jack move their hats over their hearts in respect for their lost comrades, but a feeling of dread swims through the Frenchman as he observes the two graves. They have one week to escape before Freak Fortress begins, but he is afraid that any means of escape is impossible.


	5. Part 5

Half of the week passes by, slowly for some, but quickly for others. Early in the morning Lucien is pacing near the graves anxiously as he forces his mind to think of last minute plans. Nothing comes to mind as per usual and he clenches a fist in anger. Frustrated, he punches the nearest wall at the left of the graves. To his surprise some of it breaks and before he can help himself he falls straight through to the outside. The expected shock does not come. Lucien sits up slowly and looks around at the scenery, at the deserted horizon, the blue sky, and the sun. He's actually **outside** and the chip is not harming him! He could run right now, run far away from this horrible situation, but not yet. Lucien hurries back inside to find Jack, the Australian still sleeping in the dark shadows of the back of the cave. Everyone is still asleep in random areas of the cave, most of them tossing and turning constantly. Without some kind of bed, all of them are literally taking dirt naps. The Frenchman squats down by the Aussie and shakes his shoulder.

"Jack, wake up," he whispers loudly. Eventually Jack stirs awake and turns his head to look up at Lucien.

"Wha...? What's goin' on, Luc...?" he grumbles tiredly.

"Zhere is a hole in zhe wall, Jack. We can get out of here!" Lucien replies. Jack seems to become more awake and he sits up, his focus on his French teammate.

"What're you talkin' about?"

"Zhere," Lucien points back at the opening in the wall by the graves. Jack stares at it, allowing a few seconds for it to process in his mind, then both he and Lucien get up on their feet.

"How'd ya foind that?"

"I... leaned against zhe wall and fell zhrough to zhe outside. Zhe chips she was talking about must be defective, or zhey don't reach over zhere."

"You didn't get shocked?"

"Not in zhe slightest." The two walk over to the gaping hole in the wall and Lucien proves to Jack by stepped through and walking a bit farther out, then he returns back inside. Jack looks between Lucien and the hole, almost smirking to himself as he tries walking out himself, but the moment he passes through he jumps and falls back inside, holding and rubbing his head in pain. Lucien stares at him in disbelief and confusion.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Oi got bloody shocked! Fer barely steppin' out of th' damn wall, it bloody hurt," Jack growls.

"But... zhat does not make any sense... Why did I not receive zhe shock?" Lucien wonders as he helps Jack back up on his feet.

"Maybe they forgot about ya. Luc, you can get out of here whoile ya can! Th' rest of us will figure something out," Jack says and ushers Lucien towards the wall. The former Spy looks at the wall for a while, then at Jack, then at the rest of his team. He frowns.

"Non, I cannot do zhat."

"Eh? Get out 'a here, Luc!"

"Non, Jack! I will not leave you or zhe ozhers behind! We are still a team whezher we are "freaks" or not."

Jack sighs in irritation at Lucien, but he does not argue any further. If the roles were switched the same exact thing would happen and there would be no point. Lucien's one and only plan has failed and for now he moves the rubble back in place in hopes of covering up the light shining in. He spends the rest of the day in his confusing thoughts, but thankfully with the company of a cigarette. Among the first cart of weapons from the other day were also his Ambassador, balisong, and a normal cigarette case. It is his true case that used to be his disguise kit, but the masks and other things have been removed, leaving only the cigarettes. At least with his items returned he feels somewhat like a Spy again. Lucien thinks about what happened earlier and focuses on the chips. Everyone has had the surgery done with him as the exception. Why has he been overlooked? He is sure this was not on accident; Lucien was purposely spared of the chip, but for what reason? Thinking about the possible solutions causes him to smoke through more than half of his cigarettes. There is no reason, none that he can think of right now. So far only he and Jack know that he was spared the head surgery. No other attempts of escape have been made.

Sooner than expected the week has flown by. Early in the morning there is a light that disturbs everyone's sleep, causing mumbles and grumbles from some of the men as they stir. Bones are cracked as they sit up and all eyes are focused on the television screen causing the light in the cave. The Administrator's wrinkly face is there of course with an excitable smirk and a cigarette between her fingers. "Good morning, gentlemen. The week has passed and the promised day has arrived. I hope you're all prepared for it. I'm sure your opponents are just as anxious as you are. I have already chosen the two of you that will fight for your lives today and I will call you nothing more than your new names. The one called Demopan will fight the new recruits of RED," she pauses a moment and gives a direct smirk to Adrian, "And Ninja Spy will fight BLU. Your transports will be here shortly."

The television screen turns black, but the panels do not move to cover it. Robert seems confused about the Administrator's announcement and looks at his shako for some kind of answer. Adrian has no problems at all to express how upset he is and Lucien catches every French mumble. He approaches his counterpart and touches his shoulder, but it's shrugged off.

"Don't touch me," he hisses.

"I know you are upset. Any one of us would be in your position and I am sorry we have not been able to escape, but zhis is serious now. You **have** to keep yourself togezher and kill zhem as if zhey were us. Zhey will be fine wizh zhe respawn machine. You do not have zhat any longer," Lucien explains to him. Adrian seems to actually calm down and take in his words.

"You are right... I know my team better zhan any of you. It should be easy," he assures himself. Headlights shine not more than a few minutes later and two trucks designed for transporting criminals back up towards the fence. The usual mysterious men pop out and open the door of the fence, giving a direct path to the back of the vehicle. No one moves and only watches, then Adrian screams and holds his head in pain. The Frenchman falls to the ground, the shock of the chip almost literally killing him and there is nothing he can do. Lucien tries to put two and two together and he helps Adrian back up on his feet.

"Run to zhe truck and zhe shock will go away!" he tells him, but the former BLU Spy refuses. Lucien scowls and begins pushing Adrian towards the truck himself. Just as he assumed, Adrian's pain begins to go away the closer they move to the truck and once the Frenchman steps inside the pain has ceased. He takes a seat on one of the two built-in benches to rest, then the door is shut and the truck drives off. Lucien moves away as the second truck moves closer to the fence and his attention turns towards Robert. Jack is ushering the Scotsman to go while mentioning that it would be good for the hat. Robert does not need any further convincing and just about charges directly into the truck just as the chip's boundaries change from the cave's perimeter to the vehicle's. Both the fence and the truck doors are closed, then Lucien watches as Robert is driven away. With a short sigh he returns to his teammates.

"Don't worry about 'em too much, Luc. Adrian's got th' advantage over 'is team and Robert's goin' against some new fresh meat. They'll both be back before ya know it," Jack assures him.

"Oui... I suppose you are right."

But Jack was wrong. The television screen had been turned on once again and split in two, the left showing live film of Adrian and the right showing Robert. As expected, Adrian did have some advantage over his teammates and managed to take out some, but his old team had treated him like a Spy instead of a freak and therefore had an even greater advantage. Lucien noticed at one point his counterpart had tried to talk to his team, but they did not listen to him. The right of the screen has captured the former RED mercenaries attentions more, each of them eager to see their own replacements. Though they are just newbies and rookies, Lucien can't help but admit that the new team is not that bad. He pays a particularly close attention whenever he sees his replacement on the screen and he almost seems impressed with the new Spy's skills. Though it is his first week as a member of Reliable Excavation Demolition, the man has definitely been through quite a bit in his life and gained a number of skills and knowledge. Jack on the other hand does not seem too impressed with his replacement, but he cannot say much with the new Sniper rarely being caught on screen. Robert has taken out a good half of the new mercenaries with his frying pan, but the kitchen tool is not helping to protect the man from every bullet, rocket, and lick of fire. Lucien's eyes dart between both sides of the screen, then all focus is on Adrian as his replacement has landed a finishing backstab. He cusses loudly in French as he watches his counterpart fall and hopes for him to get up or for the respawn machine to magically take him, but neither happens. Adrian has been killed, permanently, and ironically by his own replacement. Lucien wonders how that first and last backstab must have felt. He and Adrian have never killed each other and have always passed each other by to focus on their jobs dealing with each other's teammates.

"Aw no," Jack mumbles and covers his face with his hand. Lucien's eyes move to the other side of the screen and he is shocked to see Robert has also fallen just mere inches away from a level three sentry. The new Engineer wipes the worry sweat from his brow and celebrates by high-fiving the new Scout. Billy shouts "BONK!" angrily when he sees the boy on the screen and he would have destroyed the television with his hammer, but he was held back by Jack. The cameras focus a close-up on the dead bodies of Adrian and Robert, then the screen turns black and shows the Administrator once more.

"Well, that couldn't have ended better, but I was hoping this fun would last longer. I hope you do better next month," she tells them, her eyes passing from man to man before the screen turns off and the panels close over it. Lucien groans and mourns the losses of the two men. **Four** deaths have happened within the past two weeks and now only six remain. Instead of cussing any further, Lucien only takes out a cigarette from his case and savors each puff slowly. Didn't Redmond say repeatedly that he was turning them into **super** beings? Where are their powers, their strengths and agility? He still feels the change within him, but Adrian and Robert were **both** taken out during the first event. However, Lucien did see that both have lasted longer than they normally would before the experiments. They are indeed super beings, but he wonders now if they are super enough to take down an entire team of nine mercenaries.

Later that night only one of the two trucks returned, but only to deliver the two dead bodies. Jack took care of them without a word or help, having the graves already prepared and only needing to move the bodies into the ground. Just as they did last week for Heavy and Pyro, Lucien and Jack removed their hats in respect for Adrian Laurent and Robert DeGroot, "Ninja Spy" and "Demopan".

"Are you alright wizh doing zhis each time, Jack?" Lucien asks the Aussie.

"Oi don't moind much. Someone has to and Oi can't see you doin' it. Ya know, with yer suit and all," Jack answers and sighs. "Oi'll miss these blokes, but Oi hope we don't die again."

Lucien gives his own sigh and looks back at the other four. Billy, Heinrich, and Steven are in their own little worlds, though it is noticed that Samoht's hat is removed for Adrian and Robert, though the former Engineer dares not approach the graves or anyone for that matter. The Texan's depression had increased when he saw his replacement's perfect face. Lucien feels the most pity for the laborer and is sad that he was the only one to come out deformed.

"By zhe way... Why did you write zheir new titles instead of their former ones?" Lucien asks Jack curiously.

"Well who knows if these graves'll ever be found, but if they are, Oi think we'll be remembered more by our new titles than our old ones. At least Oi managed some room for their full names," the Aussie answers.

"Ah... I see," is the Frenchman's only response. Jack moves his hat back to his head and cracks his neck.

"So we have a month 'til the next event, roight? What're we gonna do 'til then?" he asks. Lucien also moves his fedora back onto his head before he and Jack walk away from the graves.

"Unfortunately I have a feeling zhat any plans or attempts of escape will be impossible... Unless we want to end up like zhose four, we will need to train and practice until we know what we are capable of. We will have zhe advantage going against zhe BLUs, but we know nozhing about our replacements. Even if zhey are new to zhis war, zhey still had zhe team work to kill Robert. Zhey are definitely not foolish."

"Oi suppose that's true... Heh, so Oi get t' cut some of you up, eh?"

"You will use eizher zhe broad side or zhe handle of your knife to hit us."

"Ahh, that's no fun, Luc..."


	6. Part 6

The hours turn into days, the days into weeks, then eventually the weeks into one full month. The remaining original mercenaries of Reliable Excavation Demolition have been sparring with each other nonstop for the past month. There have been a few close calls concerning backstabs, removal of limbs, and broken necks, but thankfully no one is permanently harmed and barely even scratched. Billy, Jack, and Lucien are especially in-touch with their advanced strength and agility. Steven and Samoht however are a different story and were trained differently. Seeing as neither of them were given any weapons due to their "skill" of eating, they mainly learned how to move quickly to avoid being damaged too much. As for Heinrich, he has done nothing but stay near the graves, sometimes crawling around them if he does not feel like sitting still. Everyday either Lucien or Jack would try to make the doctor join them, but he would only scream at them and go about his business. No one knows what the doctor is capable of besides screaming, so he was not forced to join in case he were to attack his own teammates and harm them severely. The worry for the doctor grows. When the panels begin to move aside, everyone ceases what they are doing and look up at the Administrator on the screen, her smile sinister.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Are you all ready for your second day of Freak Fortress? I do hope you won't disappoint me this time. The one called Sewer Medic will fight BLU and the one called Ass Pancakes will fight RED. Your transports will be here shortly," she smirks again, then the television goes blank. At the sound of his name, Billy springs up on his feet with his hammer in his hand and runs straight for the fence, bouncing around as he waits for the trucks. Heinrich has ignored the Administrator and is staying near the graves. Lucien watches him carefully and hopes the German will move to the fence soon. When the vehicles arrive Billy's excitement grows and he almost jumps into the back of the truck, but he hops back just as quickly, whimpering as he holds his head in pain. Either they have not switched the boundaries yet or that's not Billy's truck.

"Heinrich," Lucien calls out and hurries to the doctor. "Go to zhe fence."

"Nein! Get avay from mein sewer!" he yells at the Frenchman, then begins to scream and holds his head. The scream is incredibly powerful and it pushes Lucien back, almost painfully. Jack quickly intervenes and pulls his teammate aside and away from the hypersonic scream. Lucien thanks the Aussie and approaches Heinrich from a different angle.

"Listen to me. If you go wizh zhem, zhe pain will stop and you will be taken to a sewer. Go, Heinrich, now!" he ushers the doctor and helps him to move closer to the fence, making sure to keep out of reach of that scream. As they approach, Heinrich feels his pain decreasing and he hurries to the truck on his own. He curls up in a corner of the vehicle, his screaming thankfully stopped, then he is driven away. Billy hops into the second vehicle without hesitation before he is driven away as well. Lucien worries for both of them.

The television is split in half once again, the left focusing on Heinrich and the right focusing on Billy. Lucien has taken notice of a couple things that will be helpful from now on, but mainly the fact of whoever is going to fight BLU will be going in the first truck that pulls up to the fence. Next time they can at least be ready to avoid the shock treatment as much as possible. Lucien focuses his attention on Heinrich, observing curiously and recognizes the area called Double Cross. It is strange to see the area during the day with the usual lights off and the bridge clear of the truck and dirt. Somehow it looks much more abandoned this way. The mercenaries of BLU move cautiously, not seeing Heinrich at first and most likely feeling the strange sensation of a different mission instead of capturing each other's Intelligence. Lucien wonders where Heinrich is as well, then the camera changes and gives his answer: in the sewers. For once Heinrich looks pleased, happy even as he enjoys the water under RED's base. Hopefully if the doctor does not make too much noise it will take a while for the team to find him. Lucien looks over to Billy's screen and is surprised to find the boy has already killed three members while barely scratched. Hope for survival begins to rise and he looks over at Heinrich again.

He has been found.

Lucien lightly chews the inside of his bottom lip. Of course they would find him sooner or later. Heinrich was found by the Scout and the two only stare at each other. Heinrich rises out of the water, just a bit, and gives his usual warning to the boy. The Scout almost listens to the warning and backs away, but he does not completely run and decides to move closer. This upsets Heinrich and he announces the warning louder. The Scout calls out for his team and the loudness of his voice echoing in the sewers makes Heinrich scream that hypersonic scream at him. The Scout is gone in seconds and all hell breaks loose in the sewers. Heinrich is surrounded quickly and fired at. Water thrashes everywhere and smoke from exploded rockets begin to fog up the camera. All they can hear is Heinrich's screaming through the gunfire. Lucien risks a glance at the opposite screen and sees Billy chasing after his unarmed replacement. No one else is around and Lucien can only assume Billy saved the best for last. The Scout, out of fear, makes a small mistake with his footing and stumbles ever so slightly. Billy jumps at the opportunity and smacks the boy down with his hammer. Repeatedly and without missing a beat, he smacks the dead body of his replacement until he is nothing but blood, skin, smashed bones and guts. Billy must absolutely **loathe** the poor boy. Lucien is relieved with the victory, but as he looks back at the other side of the screen he sees the smoke beginning to fade. The sewers are silent and as the camera's view is cleared, Heinrich's bloody body can be seen floating in the water slowly turning crimson. A beaten sentry and dispenser are left standing, both machines just about to die while a lonely Engineer hides behind them. He peeks out from behind the buildings to see Heinrich dead, then he collapses against his dispenser again to breathe a sigh of relief, the blue building struggling to heal the Texan's bleeding ears.

"If only he could have trained wizh us... I should have tried harder..." Lucien sighs.

"Don't go blamin' yerself, Luc. We still got Billy. He survoived," Jack reminds him.

"Oui... He did survive. Zhat means zhe rest of us can as well. We can beat Freak Fortress," Lucien says, not just to himself and Jack, but to Steven and Samoht as well.

Even when Billy and Heinrich's body return, the four of them are still in high spirits. Billy runs over to his team with a bounce in each step and blood and guts staining all over his clothes and face. The sight of him, though gruesome, is almost... adorable in some strange, morbid way. Jack smirks at the bloody boy and gives a small lick of his lips. The man is blood thirsty, but he has shown restraint so far. So far. He steps up to Billy, chuckling to himself and complimenting the young one as he picks off squished pieces of guts from the shirt and wipes the blood from his face, occasionally licking his thumb to attack the dry blood and then enjoying the taste of it afterwards. This new brutal side of his will still take some time getting used to. Even after the pieces of organs are picked off, Billy is still heavily covered in blood. **Thank god** the Administrator is at least giving them soap and water every now and then, though usually only once a week. They are only allowed to clean themselves once a week. Four times a month. **Fifty-two times in one year out of three-hundred sixty five days.** As absolutely disgusting as that is, it is better than nothing at all. While Jack begins to work on moving Heinrich's body with the others, Lucien takes it upon himself to wash the blood completely off Billy and to try to remove it from the boy's clothes, his only items being a now very small bar of soap and a bucket with barely any water left. Their supplies will hopefully be renewed tomorrow.

"Try not to be so messy next time, Billy. You have no idea how hard it is to wash blood off of clozhing," he lectures, having taken a knee to be at level with the stained shirt. Billy raises his hand and pokes Lucien's forehead.

"Ma!" he announces. Lucien pauses and looks at him incredulously. Was he just referred to as the boy's mother? Suddenly Lucien sees a disturbing mental picture of both him and Jack being the stereotypical parents of this small family. The image vanishes as Billy's face softens and he stares down at the ground. "Ma...?" he asks softly to no one in particular and collapses to his knees. Tears quickly fill his eyes and Lucien is put in an uncomfortable position as the boy leans his head forward onto his shoulder and begins to sob, crying for his mother. Lucien watches him, frowning, and awkwardly he moves his arms around Billy in an effort to comfort him. He had never held a male in his arms before, only women and his little girl were allowed. Mainly his little girl. This... This will be the one exception for now. After he is done with Heinrich's gave, Jack passes by them and gives Lucien a questioning look. The Frenchman only looks back at the Aussie, then returns focus to the crying boy in his arms. Jack can hear the soft mumbles of "Ma" and he decides to join them, crouching down by Lucien's side and slipping his hand under Billy's hat to ruffle the green hair. The boy pulls his face out of Lucien's shoulder and looks at the other man, tears staining his white cheeks.

"Don't be sad, Spazzy. We know ya miss yer mum, but though ya can't see 'er anymore, she still loves ya with all 'er heart. Don't forget that, okay?" Jack asks and gives a grin. "'Soides, ya got a good mother figure roight here," he comments and pats Lucien's shoulder, shocking the Frenchman.

"What—"

"He's cleaning ya up, comforting ya, and Oi'm sure he's scolded ya about somethin' or 'e will soon. The perfect mother, roight Luc?" Jack gives Lucien a smirk, only to receive a twitching eye in response. "I am **not** a female, Jack."

"Aww, c'mon, mate, look at 'im. Look at that face." Jack motions to Billy, the boy's face still stained in tears and with a bit of snot on his upper lip. He is looking up at Lucien with those big blue eyes of curiosity. He is actually **considering** the idea of Lucien being some kind of mother figure. He sighs softly in defeat.

"Do **not** refer to me as a **mozher** figure... **Parental** figure if you must insist on putting zhis in his head," Lucien gives in. Jack's smirk widens and even Billy seems to have cheered up now. He bounces away from them and after a quick wipe of his face he begins to bounce around the cave just as he normally does. As Lucien and Jack stand up, the Aussie is still giving his smirk at the Frenchman. He only rolls his eyes.


	7. Part 7

Steven and Samoht are waiting at the fence. Her majesty the Administrator had announced earlier that those two are the ones to fight for this month, Steven for BLU and Samoht for RED. Lucien cannot help but be worried for them especially. They have no weapons of their own except for their method of eating, but they have yet to see that in action. Dear god, please let them live... The vehicles arrive moments later; the one driving to BLU has backed up towards the gate. Steven looks at Samoht and squeezes his shoulder. The Texan is keeping his head down, keeping his face away from everyone as much as possible, but the squeeze is reassuring. Steven then departs into the truck and Samoht in his own vehicle soon after. Lucien, Jack, and Billy remain alone in the cave, outnumbered five-to-three by the graves in the back. That number could change to either seven-to-three or stay as five-to-five when Steven and Samoht return. If they return. No, they **will** return. Lucien looks over at Billy again as he remembers the events of last month and is glad to see him alive and healthy. This brings him relief and restores his hope of survival.

Moments later Steven and Samoht are revealed on the screen, both unarmed men against nine heavily armed mercenaries each. Lucien lights up a cigarette, almost too quickly that he fumbles with the stick and lighter. "Easy, mate," Jack mumbles and pats Lucien's shoulder. The Frenchman takes a breath to calm down, then successfully lights up his cigarette. The battles begin and Lucien's eyes dart from side to side rather quickly. Jack and Billy are calmer than him, their eyes only occasionally glancing from one side of the screen to the other. Samoht is keeping away from the REDs, not willing to fight or show his face to these strangers. So far he has yet to be found, but Lucien hopes he will not make the same mistake as Heinrich. Steven however is actively seeking out the enemy team, slithering quickly along the ground, walls, and even the ceilings. Thankfully the clicking and cracking cannot be heard as easily through the speakers. He crawls along the walls, confusing the team, then drops down on his first victim: the Medic. The doctor is torn apart before he is eaten alive and makes it Lucien cringe. At his side he can hear Jack groan and mumble, "Lucky bloke..." **Lucky**? With the exception of Samoht, Lucien's teammates have turned into blood-thirsty monsters. But... they are still his team, and only Redmond is to blame for changing who they are.

Lucien turns his eyes away from Steven's camera and focuses on Samoht. He has been cornered by a Heavy and Medic, but the Übercharge is not there yet. Suddenly the former Engineer does something to make Lucien sick to his stomach. Seeing no other option but to fight, Samoht approaches the pair and suddenly his mouth stretches open incredibly wide and swallows the frightened Medic whole. Lucien is in such a shock that the cigarette slips out from his parted lips as he stares at the sight on the screen. The Heavy is consumed only seconds later and eventually it is shown that Samoht can **shoot** the bodies out of his mouth to attack the rest of the team. Slowly Lucien sits down and reaches for his dropped cigarette. He brushes off anything that could have jumped on it during its time on the floor, then continues smoking it. He will not allow one stick of cancer to go to waste like that. His eyes stay off the screen for a moment, unwilling to watch his two teammates **eat** the other teams like a casual dinner, but eventually he decides to look up again and is relieved to see the feast has ended and both Steven and Samoht are alive. When they return later that day, both coming from separate trucks, Billy is jumping all around them and laughing happily. Steven is proud of himself and Lucien can almost see the former Soldier in him, then he remembers the blood all around his mouth and clothes and he tries not to picture the digesting organs in the man's stomach. Unlike Steven, Samoht is only bloody where he had been shot and is thankfully not too messy. Jack praises both of them and tells Steven of his envy towards tasting blood. The former Soldier only gives his wide smile while Samoht walks off. Lucien stops him with a hand to his shoulder. He looks at the smaller man directly into his eyes and only his eyes, refusing to even glance anywhere else on his face. Lucien smiles at his teammate and pats his shoulder. It is almost impossible to tell, but judging from the muscles' movements, Lucien thinks Samoht might have smiled back.

The days go on as they usually do, this time much happier than they have been since the team had first arrived and began this event. They have survived; **finally** no one had to die this month. Lucien is a mix of emotions, happy to have not lost more teammates, but as he tries to figure out how to escape this horror he grows frustrated with himself. Then he remembers that he and Jack are next to fight and he becomes anxious. The Australian feels differently about their upcoming fight. In fact he is jittery with excitement and incredibly impatient. A couple times Lucien had found Jack cutting his own fingers just so he can taste some kind of blood and had to make him stop before he decided to actually cut them off for the thrill of it. The days continued to pass and soon the day arrived. The five mercenaries were awakened by the Administrator at the usual early morning hour to see her pleased expression up on the screen.

"Good morning, gentlemen. I am still very pleased with last month's event and I hope today will be just as interesting." She pauses for a moment to smirk directly at Lucien, then continues, "I'm sure it will be interesting with you two, but I have a proposal for you, **Lucien Bouvier**. According to Redmond you are the only one who turned out to be the perfect "super being". You can't rejoin your team, but you can leave right now and spare yourself of this. You have a home to return to, don't you? Perhaps there's a special person you wish to see again?"

The last question leaves Lucien silent as Isabelle immediately enters his mind. Is she seriously offering him this freedom? He can only assume she is sincere after discovering he had been spared of the tracking chip. Would he get one installed if he were to decline? Lucien reaches to an inner pocket of his jacket, but remembers only his cigarette case is tucked away with only a few sticks inside. The picture he is looking for is back in his old room, possibly thrown away in the garbage by now and the thought stings his heart.

"Yer not seriously thinkin' about this, are ya?" Jack interrupts his thoughts with a frown. "This is an easy answer, Luc! Take th' offer an' get out 'a 'ere!"

"Non," he answers softly, removing his hand from his jacket and looking up at the Administrator straight in the eye. "I will not abandon my team."

"Are ya crazy, Luc?! Oi thought ya had a girl back at home!" Jack yells at him.

"I do, Jack. She is my world, but I will not leave you all in a place like zhis. I am sure she would understand," Lucien explains to him. Jack does not bother to argue.

"That's what I thought. In that case, you will fight Builders League United. Christian Brutal Sniper will fight Reliable Excavation Demolition. Make this fight a good one," the Administrator says with a smirk, then the screen turns black. Lucien looks at Jack, but the Australian walks right past him and towards the fence. He frowns and follows.

"Tell me you are not mad at me, Jack."

"Why th' bloody 'ell are you not takin' these chances at freedom, Luc? You even told me yerself you were gonna put away th' mask an' go back to yer li'l girl someday."

"Zhat was for when zhe war was going to end and we were **all** going home. I am not going to leave while zhese events are happening."

"Then yer stickin' around fer a real long toime, Luc. We're here 'til we die, remember?"

"Zhen I will die wizh you or we will escape togezher."

Jack does not reply. He observes Lucien for a moment or two, then finally just smiles. Lucien returns it. When the vehicles arrive, Lucien steps up to the fence first and waits for the doors to open. He notices the men holding those syringes again and can only assume it is because he does not have a chip like the rest of his team. "Have fun, Luc. See ya when we get back," the former Sniper says with a smirk. "Oui," is the former Spy's short reply, returning the smirk before he steps into the back of the vehicle. He takes a seat as the door closes, then the truck slowly moves forward. Now it is time to play the waiting game. To help pass the time Lucien pulls his cigarette case out from his jacket. Just before he lights up a stick he notices the small barred window across from him. He slips the case back in his jacket as he stands to move across to the other bench. There is nothing but dry lands and a few peaks as they drive, the sun slowly rising higher and higher to cast its light on the land. He recognizes some of these landscapes and feels that he recognizes the road as well, but he is not sure. It is not until they pass the base in Teufort that Lucien completely recognizes where they are and realizes how close the base is from where they are being held. Lucien saves this information in the back of his mind for now and continues watching the land as they pass by.

A little over half an hour goes by when the vehicle finally slows to a stop, then a few moments later is when the door opens and the men are there with their syringes and tranquilizers. Lucien stands, but he is stopped and told to remove his jacket for the fight. They explain to him that the reason is because of his perfection and lack of difference from the current Spies, thus it would create confusion and unnecessary friendly fire. He is, however, allowed to keep his weapons with him of course and was assured his jacket would return untouched if he won the battle, so he does not complain. The jacket is removed and leaves him in a casual wear of a white dress shirt and a vest. Lucien is escorted to what looks like an abandoned respawn room of RED, but he does not recognize it. The wooden walls are weak with age and the resupply cabinet is dusty and empty. What was once a strong battleground for past teams now has the potential of being his grave, but he will not allow that. The men leave Lucien alone in the room, moments before he begins to hear that she-devil's cold voice over the speakers. The countdown begins, then the sirens signal the start of the battle. Lucien checks his knife and then his gun. He only has six bullets already loaded and is left without any other ammo. He does not have any disguises, his cloaking watch, or a sapper any longer. It is him versus nine mercenaries, his old enemies, and he ponders how the battle will turn out.

Lucien moves quickly and quietly around abandoned farm houses, his main targets already prioritized: the Engineer and the Medic. He seeks out the Texan and finds him beginning to build a sentry in a corner by their starting area. The Demoman has laid sticky bombs around the area and close by are the Heavy and Medic pair, the medi gun trained on the large Russian and slowly building up an Über. This is going to be hell, but he has to move fast before it is too late. Lucien uses two bullets to destroy the small sentry gun, then he slips back behind the farm house and across to the other side before the team could see him. He can already hear the offensive three hurrying to his area, but they are not his priority. He moves faster, a speed that he has never run at before, and in seconds he slips behind the Medic to land a strong backstab. The German's scream brings everyone's attention and the Heavy begins to fire angrily at him. Lucien manages to dodge the bullets, moving quickly behind the Russian to land another stab. Two down and seven to go, but he has been spotted. Rockets, bombs, and bullets fly in his direction and he does his best to avoid them, but through it all he can hear the Engineer rebuilding his sentry. He **cannot** let it get to the second level or he will be in trouble.

Lucien weaves through the barrage of bullets and rockets, finding himself to be incredibly light on his feet. Of course he cannot dodge every bullet, but the wounds barely faze him. He adds another two bullets to destroy the sentry once more and adds a third to the Engineer's forehead. Three down, six remain, and only one bullet is left in the gun. At least the top two priorities are out of the way; they were his main worries. Lucien runs away from the team, but he can hear the Scout hot on his trail. It will be the biggest pain in the world to try to land a backstab on him, though he wonders if he would succeed now that he is just as fast as the boy, maybe even faster. First he must be rid of the ones with the bigger guns. No, scratch that; he changes his priority after just barely escaping the fire from that **monster**. He may regret this later, but as he is running from the Pyro he turns and plants his last bullet between its eyes. He is happy to find the one shot has sent the thing to the ground, but now he is without a gun. He tucks the gun away and holds his balisong tight in his hand as he goes after the others, ignoring the Scout for now. He weaves through the rockets, his eyes focused on the Soldier, and before the American can jump away he thrusts the knife into his chest, then quickly circles around to stab his back. Five down, four left.

Lucien's next target is the Scotsman, but he finds himself in a complicated position. The Demoman has sticky bombs around him and the Scout is standing by within the boundary. The Sniper is not too far away, hiding in one of the farms and carefully he is observing the area with those all-seeing eyes. Without his gun, disguises or cloak, he may have to sacrifice a bit if he wants to pass those bombs. First he changes priority to the Sniper and sneaks towards his hideout. The bushman is easy to take care of, but before anything he throws his hand over the Sniper's mouth before landing the backstab. His scream is muffled to the others and he allows the body to drop to the floor. Lucien eyes the Demoman and thinks of what to do with him. Could he startle the Scotsman into activating the bombs and clear the way? Or could he find a way to distract him and move in without harm? Both are effective, but the question is how to execute the plan. Then he remembers the Sniper on the floor. With his newfound strength, Lucien lifts the dead weight off the ground and throws him out the window at the two. He sails past the Scout and aims a direct hit at the Demoman, knocking him off his feet. Lucien hops out the window and runs quickly within the boundaries. Just as the Demoman pushes the body off himself and gets back on his feet, Lucien moves behind him with a strong backstab. The Scout panics and runs, but Lucien only smirks and chases after him. Surprisingly, but expectantly, he finds himself catching up easily with the Scout. As the boy looks back and sees how close his pursuer is, he trips over himself in shock and is quickly stabbed. One man remains.

Lucien walks around slowly, flipping his knife around between his fingers, listening carefully for the footsteps around him. He hears them draw near, from behind of course, and waits for the right moment. The footsteps follow right behind him and he turns quickly, grabbing the arm of his counterpart's replacement and twisting him around in a lock. He leans close to the man's ear and mumbles, "Zhis is for your predecessor." The balisong is thrust deep into the enemy's back, then after a moment he removes his knife and drops the man to the floor. He hears the Announcer congratulate him and is told to return back to the abandoned respawn room. Lucien does as he is told and soon enough he is back in the truck and on his way back to the cave. Though he is happy to have his jacket returned to him, he does not put it back on. Instead he would rather try to wash the blood away before dirtying the only clean piece of his suit. Eventually he arrives "home" and is greeted by his three teammates as he steps out of the vehicle. He watches it drive away, but becomes concerned when he does not see the second vehicle.

"Where is Jack?" he asks his teammates. Billy takes him by the wrist and pulls him over to the screen. Billy points to the right side and Lucien is surprised to see Jack's battle is still going on. Currently the camera is focused on Jack standing over the entire RED team, their legs currently broken or severed. They are lined up in a row, all squirming in agony as Jack takes his time with them, cutting them up gruesomely with his knife. Half of the team is dead, the Scout is crying, and the Sniper seems the most horrified as he watches Jack slash at the bodies and lick blood off his fingers and knife. Eventually the entire team is dead, saving the Sniper for last. He can see the bloodlust in Jack's crimson eyes as he especially toys with his replacement, making each cut more painful than the last. Lucien winces and almost has to look away as Jack pokes the tip of his blade into his replacement's eyes. The rest of the pain becomes worse for the poor RED that even Lucien almost pities him. Eventually he allows the Sniper to die, then the rest of the screen turns black. When the vehicle brings Jack home, Lucien is not surprised when the man steps out **caked** in blood.

"_Mon dieu_, Jack, did you have to make such a mess?" Lucien asks bewildered.

"_Heh heh heh..._ Sorry, Luc. Don't worry, Oi can clean meself. Ohh, it was amazin', though. **That's** what Oi call a real bloody rootin'," Jack purrs and licks the blood from his fingers. The man is comparing a vicious bloodbath to sex and the murders win. Lucien can admit he has had some amazing murders in his life back when he was younger, but Jack's brutality... Well he was not given his new title for nothing, and at least Lucien is not the only one disturbed by him; Samoht's eyes are avoiding the bloody Australian, but Billy and Steven do not seem to mind or care. They may even be just as excited for all he knows. Lucien looks at his four teammates and remembers their formal selves. Though a bit morphed, those former REDs are still here right now. They are still a team and that will never change, not even if Freak Fortress manages to kill them before they can escape.


	8. Part 8

Months pass by like a cliché calendar having its pages ripped off during a transitioning scene, only in this scene there are multiple calendars. Years have passed since Freak Fortress began, but no one is able to keep track and the Administrator does not bother to tell them the date. In fact the only thing she has told them is that they are now infamously "The Lost RED Team". Sure it has a ring to it, but they are **not** lost or dead as everything thinks, they are being held prisoner for life with death sentences. By now plans of escape have been mainly forgotten and most of the time is spent sparring through the months or struggling for warmth through the cold, but luckily snowless winters. Both Reliable Excavation Demolition and Builders League United have eventually learned how each of the "freaks" behaved, so the former REDs must change up their game every now and then to keep the element of surprise of their side. There have been some bright sides during the past few years, though. New clothes are given to them the day after each event and it is the biggest relief to wear fresh clothes after washing down. Sadly that has not changed, but once again it is better than nothing at all. Samoht has also stopped hiding his face so often and the only times are after he returns from his fights. Jack's bloodlust is being fulfilled, Billy is bonking heads, Steven is eating; everyone's strange desires are now being fulfilled. This thought has kept Lucien from thinking about plans to escape. It is almost as if they **need** Freak Fortress to live properly, but slowly it is killing them and that thought reminds Lucien they need to leave this place. However he has no idea of where they would go, but anywhere is better than here. Well, almost. Anywhere without society is better than here and sadly that narrows things down quite a bit. Lucien will think that far ahead eventually.

Aside from the good things that have happened, there have also been some down sides as well. Instead of staying in order, the Administrator has decided to "spice things up a bit" by sending the former REDs out randomly by literally picking names out of a hat. Now instead of two to three months of assured rest, they must be ready every month in case their name is drawn. Sometimes a couple of them had to fight two months in a row. As Lucien lights up a cigarette he reflects back to his last fight two months ago. He had fought against Reliable Excavation Demotion while Steven faced Builders League United. His replacement was left alone, the others already dead, and Lucien took the chance to talk to him, one fellow Spy to another. He was relieved when the man would hear him out, but was stopped after explaining only half of the situation, that they were the original RED mercenaries and needed to escape. The Spy did not want to hear more nor did he want to risk his life for them. Lucien can understand that. In another world he would most likely have rejected as well. The Spy, however, will help them with the small favor of no longer fighting. A backstab is very powerful and it will be incredibly helpful to no longer feel that pain, at least not from his replacement. The Spy has to swallow a strong portion of his pride and dignity to allow these free kills from now on and for that he is thankful.

Lucien gently blows the smoke out through puckered lips and looks up at the screen. Jack is slaughtering BLU while Billy is happily slamming his hammer upon everything and everyone, screaming his usual "BONK!" with each head bashed in. This is Jack's second time in a row facing BLU and though everyone has known each other for years, Jack still manages to strike fear into most of those men. The emotion especially shows when the Australian has them **exactly** where he wants them. Lucien gives attention to Billy's side of the screen and only chuckles as he sees the boy has left the Scout as the last one alive again. Billy is chasing after him, his hands locked around the hammer's handle and holding it off to the right. The Scout has to skid to a stop when he sees he has cornered himself, but as he looks back Billy does not give him a chance to blink and he swings the large hammer like a baseball bat, sending the Scout high in the air and far over the fence. Billy laughs as the boy flails and laughs even harder when he breaks his neck falling onto the ground, dying instantly. Lucien removes the cigarette from his lips and peers closer to the screen at the Scout. He has never seen someone die out of bounds before, not in this war. Unlike the bodies of the Scout's teammates, his is not disappearing yet. Billy sits down and curls around his hammer before his side of the screen goes black. Lucien frowns at this. Recently Billy, Samoht, and Steven have been getting tired after each fight and it is beginning to worry him. Their strength is getting weaker and Lucien fears that their time is running out soon.

These days Jack does not prolong his fights too much as he used to in his more bloodthirsty days, unless too many months have passed by, so as Billy's vehicle arrives first the second vehicle is not too far behind. The boy hops out of the truck and walks straight to Lucien, the Frenchman already prepared with the water and soap. Ever since that day when Jack installed the image of Billy's new parental figure in his head, Lucien has been bathing the boy and washing his clothes as if he were his own child. Thankfully Jack and Samoht can bathe themselves, but Steven is like a vicious cat and he constantly reeks of dry blood and old sweat. Thankfully Samoht had recently been able to help this problem by convincing Steven otherwise. As Lucien washes the blood away from Billy's face he takes a small glance at Jack as he steps out of the vehicle. Unlike the other three, Jack is never tired nor does he show any signs of exhaustion whenever he returns from a fight. Lucien assumes that it is either because he is close to being "the perfect super being", going through the machine three times damaged his body somehow, or he is hiding his exhaustion. The man is always seemingly full of energy, though of course not bouncing energy like Billy, so it is hard to tell.

"Jack, I am surprised. I can still see half of your face," Lucien comments.

"Yeah? Oi thought Oi felt a breeze," Jack replies with a smirk and sits next to the former Spy. "Didja 'ave fun, Spazzy?" he asks Billy. The boy hops away from his "bath" and mimics a replay of when he hit his replacement like a baseball, shouting "BONK!" with his swing and laughing afterwards.

"He hit zhe Scout out of bounds," Lucien explains and gives Jack the water and soap.

"Out of bounds? What, ya mean over th' fence?"

"Exactly. He did not die until he hit zhe ground, but the screen turned off before I could see whezher zhe respawn machine would take his body."

"Ya think 'e moight be dead fer real?"

"Oui. Why else would we have boundaries around zhe areas we fight?"

"Huh. Never thought about that. Well, ya hear that, Spazzy? Sounds loike yer replacement's dead and gone." There has never been a wider smile on Billy's face as he runs around and bounces off the walls and ceiling. Jack chuckles at this and continues to wash the blood from his body.

"By zhe way, have you been feeling tired recently wizh your fights?"

"Toired? Of butcherin' those blokes every month? Not in th' sloightest."

"I do not mean boredom, Jack. I am asking if you have felt exhausted after returning from a fight."

"Ah. Loike th' other three, yeah? Ya don't have t' worry about me, mate. Oi'm foine."

"You are sure?"

"Course Oi'm sure. Oi was th' one that went in th' machine roight before ya, remember? Oi'm not a hundred percent, but Oi'm close to whatever it is to be a perfect super bein', even if Oi did have t' go in there three toimes. No need t' worry 'bout me, Luc, let's save that for th' others."

Lucien agrees, but just in case, he decides to remind himself every now and then to glance in Jack's direction to look for any signs of tiredness or exhaustion. It is not easy to lie to a Spy, especially not to Lucien, but something is nagging at him to watch the Aussie anyway. Later that day the Administrator confirmed the Scout's death, though she seemed indifferent about giving the news. A death outside the boundary has never happened before, but just like with Lucien's team she can easily replace the poor boy the next day or even within the next hour.

The next month arrives and Lucien is the one chosen to face Reliable Excavation Demolition. The area he is taken to is a bit different from the usual fighting areas, one without a "respawn room" for him to start in. Instead Lucien is told to wait under the small bridge on the opposite end of the small square called Military Area while the other team waits in their "respawn room". He has seen his teammates fight in this place before, but he has never been here himself. There are very few areas to hide in, barely any dark corners, and all-in-all it is definitely much too small for his liking. But, he will find a way to use it to his advantage and he will stick with his random plan of boredom to kill whoever he sees first. It is risky to have an unorganized list of priorities, but so far it is the only way to entertain himself after fighting like this month after month and year after year.

"Five, four, three, two, one: fight to the **death**."

Lucien moves quickly as the mercenaries come out and the first he sees is the Sniper heading for the tower in the center of the area. He backstabs the man before he can climb halfway up the ladder. Out of the corner of his eyes is the Pyro coming at him with that blasted flamethrower and just like every other time before, Lucien uses his beloved Ambassador to stop the Pyro cold in its tracks. Unless he finds himself in the incredibly lucky position to catch that thing off-guard where he can stab it **right then and there**, he will **never** try to waste his energy in an attempt to kill it with his balisong. The single beep of a level one sentry rings in Lucien's ears and he decides it is about the right time to go after the Engineer before the little toy is upgraded too high for his bullets to destroy immediately. Unfortunately he has to use an extra bullet instead of the usual two seeing as the toy has been completely built this time, but he is not worried and he murders the laborer without missing a step. Right about now is when the Medic's Übercharge should be at one-hundred percent and fixed on the Heavy. This especially should have been in the top priorities, but Lucien is still not worried. He finds the duo back-to-back, the static rippling off the machine as the German and Russian wait for him. This will be easy. Lucien comes out of hiding and does nothing but cut the Medic's arm as he runs past them. The Über is activated, but Lucien is already out of their sights. He smirks and chuckles at the Medic's cussing, then as the invincibility wears off he runs in again and takes the pair out with his knife. The Soldier and the Demoman both come into view, both of them hiding up on the water tower to protect their backs as the rockets and bombs rain down. Lucien moves away from the explosives and uses his last two bullets on each of their heads. He tucks the empty gun away as he watches them fall, then behind him he hears his replacement uncloak into their usual back-to-back position.

"Zhat is a new record today. Félicitations, zhough before you kill me, I zhought I should tell you zhat our new Scout is hiding away in zhe starting room. Soldier played a prank on zhe poor zhing by saying zhat zhe machines are off during zhe events," he explains.

"Perhaps I will go easy on zhe boy, zhen. Merci," Lucien replies and hears his replacement chuckle softly.

"Oui. **Zhe boy**," he quotes. Lucien hesitates at first, contemplating on whether he wants to ask about the new Scout or not, but he decides he will find out soon and puts his knife in the other's back. He withdraws his knife before making his way to the starting room, basically just a large cargo box he sees often on trains with an opening on the side. Quietly he walks through the opening and looks to his right at the Scout. Immediately he questions whether he is dreaming right now as he sees **his** little girl curled up in the corner. No... No, that would be impossible. The hair is a darker shade than Isabelle's and the skin is more tan, but the eyes are so very close. Her eyes scan over the blood on his clothes from her teammates, then they see his knife and she attempts to squeeze herself more into her corner, her chest rising and falling with each quick and panicked breath. He does not want to kill her. More than anything he wants to comfort her and assure her that she is safe from harm, but he is not allowed to do that. He approaches her slowly and notices her panic rise with each step he takes. Her eyes lock with his own as he kneels to her level and tips his fedora.

"Good day," he greets softly. He sees the confusion wash over her, but he is happy to see her relax even if it is only slightly.

"G—... Good day..." she replies, quiet and unsure. Slowly he moves his left hand to her shoulder and leans in close to the opposite ear. Her muscles are tense under his hand. He speaks softly to her in a hushed whisper.

"Zhey are playing a prank on you, ma petite Scout. I promise you will wake up again," he assures her and raises his knife to her back. As painless as he can possibly manage he stabs the knife quickly into her back. She does not scream nor does she cry before her body limps forward into him. He removes his knife from her back and tucks it away so he can hold her with both arms. What could she be doing here in a war like this? She is very strong though, he can easily see that, but why did the Administrator bring her here...? When her body vanishes he gives a soft sigh and returns to his starting area where those men are waiting to take him back "home", back to the cave and back to his team.


	9. Part 9

Lucien has spent the next several days in silence for most of the time. Ever since he had his encounter with RED's new Scout he had been lost in his thoughts. There is something about her, and it is not just because she reminds him of his little girl. Old plans have resurfaced, plans that were impossible to execute on their own. If Lucien can reach through to the new Scout, if he can manage to get outside help, then they may have a chance to finally escape before it is too late. However, he has no idea of when he will battle against RED again and by that time who knows what could happen? Hopefully nothing bad.

The former Spy observes his teammates and watches Jack walk to the fence, his blood-stained knife named Sharpy bouncing in his hands while Samoht walks more slowly after him. Samoht never looks forward to his fights, but Lucien can see that he is also tired. Thankfully he is fighting against RED so he will not have to deal with Lucien's replacement. Jack, of course, will be perfectly fine against BLU. Lucien knows he does not have to worry about him. Steven stops Samoht before he boards the second truck to give him either the usual squeeze on the shoulder or a pat on the back, both reassuring gestures to calm the Texan before his fight. When the trucks depart, Lucien's eyes automatically turn to the black screen in wait while Steven and Billy sit in front of him. It is still very unnerving to see the boy sit so still like this. The minutes tick by slowly before the screen turns on again and splits in half. When the battles begin Lucien focuses his eyes on Samoht's camera. He is moving slower than normal. He has been for a while, but it is more noticeable now. Rockets and bombs are quickly being fired at him, but Samoht cannot dodge all of them, or at least not as many as he used to. Lucien puffs nervously on his cigarette and takes a glance at Steven. The former Soldier's eyes are focused on Samoht's screen just as they always are and quietly Lucien can hear the subtle clicks and cracks of nervous limbs. Eyes return back to the screen just in time to see the Pyro being swallowed whole and by now Lucien is used to witnessing the unnatural consumption.

The Soldier is next to being consumed and the Demoman quickly runs off in search of more ammo. Instead of going after him, Samoht's eyes set on the level three sentry and its creator, along with Scout. He can see the terror in her eyes as Samoht runs straight for them, ignoring the rockets and bullets. Steven screams a bit at this and it puts Lucien even more on edge. Charging at a sentry is almost suicide, but it is a last resort for Samoht and he has no other choice when it is up to this level. The Engineer gives Scout a push before she runs away and leaves him alone, but he does not last much longer. Samoht swallows the entire sentry, a feat that still baffles Lucien most times, then the Engineer is next to be devoured. Three down, but more than half still remain. A headshot does not kill Samoht, but it hurts **terribly** and adds more blood. Samoht looks up in the Sniper's direction and quickly takes him out by spitting the Pyro's body at him. Four down now, then the former Texan sets his eyes on Scout. She runs from him and he chases after her, but Lucien notices that he is after her without any means of harm. Scout tries to hide inside the starting area, but the door is closed with no way in. She has cornered herself and the horror shows on her face as she turns to face Samoht. He is covered in blood, his own blood, and there is a stagger in his walk as he slowly approaches her. He is on the verge of death, and he is seeking Scout's help. Unfortunately only Steven can understand him, the strange way of speaking only frightens Scout more. She fumbles with her scattergun and Lucien must cover his ears as Steven screams. Dozens of bullets are shot into Samoht's face and they do not cease until the man falls backwards onto the ground, unmoving, and very much dead. Lucien gives a sad frown and takes a glance at the other side of the screen, not in the least bit surprised to see Jack standing tall and happily covered in blood. Then the screen turns black.

Half an hour passes after Jack and Samoht return. The Texan's body has not been buried; Steven is not allowing Jack to do that yet. Instead the former Soldier is by Samoht's side, mourning the loss of his best friend while Jack takes the time to wash himself. Billy is sitting between him and Lucien, playing with his hammer unenthusiastically while the three of them give Steven his space. Lucien is about to reach for another cigarette from his case, but finds that he does not have many sticks left and decides to save them for now. He looks at the wall where the screen is now covered by the camouflaged panels. She had spoken to them earlier with an almost too happy glint in her eyes. It has been years since anyone has died and she did not hesitate to remind them that their strengths are wearing out. Just like Samoht—though she called him by that horrible name Redmond had given him—their exhaustion will overpower them and leave them for dead. The only good news is that there will no longer be a randomizer now that there are only four left. Next month Steven and Billy will fight, then Lucien and Jack, and they will continue to switch off. She predicts that they will all die within the year before bidding them good night. This had upset Lucien to no end and he had decided that he **will** get them out of this place, one way or another. He has to think hard, go through every possibility possible, and then he remembers RED's new Scout.

As the sun disappears below the horizon, Jack is just now finishing his carving on Samoht's homemade tombstone. He was finally allowed to bury the man after much convincing and as he moves away from the new grave, Steven quickly replaces his spot and stays by Samoht's side, similar to how Heinrich behaved around Mikhail. This is where the man will stay for the rest of the night. Billy decides to sit next to him and curl around his hammer, both of them staring at the new grave next to the others already several years old. Lucien decides to take this moment to talk to Jack.

"I am going out," he tells him. Jack looks at the Frenchman curiously.

"Out? Ya mean out there? Foinally gettin' yerself out 'a 'ere, eh?"

"Of course not. I will return wizhin zhe hour, but in zhe meantime watch over zhem and make sure zhey do not try to follow."

Lucien departs after that. He has to walk past Steven and Billy to uncover the wall next to the graves, but they do not give him any notices as he passes through without a shock. He looks up at the dark sky and takes a huge breath of the fresh air, the **free** air. For the second time during his confinement with his team he is outside again, but this time he will venture out farther and farther, all the way back to his old base. It will be difficult without his disguises or cloaking watch, but he is a Spy after all and he will always be a Spy with or without those gadgets. Lucien moves quickly and silently, just as he has always done on the battlefield both in the past and today, becoming one with the dark and moving like a shadow. He is trusting his memory heavily as he moves in one direction, and eventually when the tall farm tower of his old base comes into view he moves faster. A strange sense of comfort and anxiety washes over him as he moves against the fence surrounding the area. It is very dangerous to be caught here, but the nostalgia, the visions of his glory days help him to relax. Lucien even remembers the code to unlock the fence and slips inside. BLU's base is dark, but RED's base is still lit. The moment he hears footsteps, Lucien quickly makes himself scarce. He watches from the shadows as Scout walks outside, carrying a wobbling and most likely drunken Sniper with his arm over her shoulders. He is impressed to see that she is not struggling so much to carry the man to his van. When they disappear inside the back he quickly repositions himself to a closer area and continues to watch.

"There ya go, Snipes... Sleep tight," she tells him before stepping out and closing the door behind her. Without his weight on her shoulders she takes the moment to crack her bones and begins to head back inside. He must move now while her team is asleep and she is alone. Lucien silently steps up behind her and presses his hand over her mouth, his other arm wrapping around her to pin her arms at her sides. He feels the panic quickly rise.

"Shhhh. Do not struggle, ma petite Scout. I will not harm you," he whispers into her ear. He is not sure whether it is his calm voice or the familiar nickname, but thankfully she has calmed down despite their past encounter. He waits a moment before speaking again. "I am going to release you, but you must not run or alert your team. Nod if you understand." She nodded without a second thought and he wonders if he has already gained her trust. Slowly he releases her, but instead moves his hand down to her wrist.

"We cannot talk here. Come wizh me," he tells her.

"Wh-Where...?" she asks, uncertainty in her voice.

"I need you to trust me," he tells her and flips off her headset, then he slips a cloth out from his inner pocket. He ties it over her eyes and at first she tenses and goes to protest, but he quickly assures her that it is for her own safety. If she went with him and it was found out that she knows where they are, she could get into trouble by that devil woman. The Spy rejected his plea for help for that very same reason, and now he must try to protect Scout in a similar way despite bringing her into the situation in the first place. Lucien begins the journey back to the cave with Scout at his side, holding her around the shoulders and leading her by hand. He can feel her quick pulse through the veins on her wrist and each time she tensed or hesitated he would assure her that she will be alright and that nothing will happen to her. He will not allow that.

"We are almost zhere," he tells her.

"Alright... Um... Where are we going again...?" she asks slowly. He gives her shoulder a small squeeze.

"You will see. Trust me," he answers once again, the very same answer he had responded with when she had asked him earlier during the journey. Soon he sees the cave and moves in a stealthier manner, pulling Scout with each step until they reach the broken wall. He pulls her inside and leads her over to his team where the eyes quickly land on her. "We have arrived," he announces and removes the cloth from her eyes, immediately regretting the timing as Billy decides to stand directly in front of her when she opens her eyes. She jumps back into him and he holds onto her to prevent her from tripping backwards.

"I am Ass Pancakes! I am gonna BONK you!" Billy announces and smiles widely, the red makeup stretching his smile from cheek-to-cheek.

"Non, Billy, leave her be," Lucien tells him and pulls the Scout protectively closer. Billy frowns in disappointment, then Steven's murderous face appears in front of hers and Lucien's grip on Scout tightens.

"I am Painis Cupcake! I will eat your **very soul**!" he threatens.

"Non! Billy, please "bonk" Steven away..." Lucien asks. Billy's smile returns and he happily begins to smack Steven away with his hammer, playfully of course without doing real harm. Both he and Scout are relieved when they disappear into the darker parts of the cave until the tip of Sharpy touches under her chin. Jack is looking at her curiously, smirking as he tilts her head up with the tip of his blade.

"Yer a pretty li'l beaut, aren't ya? Where'd ya get this li'l sheila, Luc?" he asks.

"Do not harm her, Jack," Lucien tells him firmly and pushes Sharpy away with his fingers. "We need her."

"Oi mate, yer not goin' on about that still, are ya?"

"You know we cannot stay here any longer, especially after what happened today. She will help us—"

"She's th' one that finished Samoht off! How can she help if she's killin' us, too?!"

"Samoht was an accident!"

"H-Hey—" Scout speaks up and both Lucien and Jack end their argument to look at her. Quickly she regrets speaking up to this unwanted attention, but continues. "U-Um... I-I, uh... What's... goin' on...?" she asks. Lucien turns his eyes to Jack again and waves him off, the Aussie only rolling his own eyes before walking away and petting his blade with his finger.

"Excuse zhem, Scout. Zhere have never been any... outsiders in here before. Zhere is somezhing I must show you," he explains and begins to walk. She quickly catches up to walk by his side.

"Think you can tell me what's goin' on while we're walkin'? Why am I even here?"

"I brought you here because we need you. Zhose morons you call "teammates" would not even dare to zhink about us **freaks**."

"So what makes me different?"

"You are different zhan zhem. I noticed it right away as well as Samoht..."

"Who's this Samoht guy?"

"He was zhe **man** zhat was killed today. Samoht was also Steven's best friend, which is why he almost killed you."

"Well what was I supposed to do, **let** it eat me?"

"**He** was pleading wizh you to let him live, Scout. Unlike all of you, **we** cannot respawn any longer."

"... I... I don't understand..."

Here is where it begins. Lucien stops walking and gives a soft sigh. He decides now is the time to take one of the few cigarettes of his case and lights it up, taking his time to suck on the cancer and gently blow out the smoke. He begins to explain everything; who they are, what they are, what happened to them all those years ago and what they are going through now. By the end of the explanation she is stunned, shocked, and speechless. Quietly he walks past her and observes the six graves. She follows him and reads them one by one: Mikhail, Pyro, Adrian, Robert, Heinrich, and finally Samoht. She sinks to her knees at the final grave, regret washing over her. Lucien kneels next to her.

"His name was Thomas, but he did not want to be called zhat when he saw himself," he says. "He was one of zhe early experiments and zhe only one zhat came out deformed. Zhose monsters gave him a horrible nickname, but we have always called him "Samoht"."

""Samoht"... That's his name backwards... That's how he talked, right...?" she asks.

"Oui," he answers. Slowly she raises her hand and touches the name with her fingertips. Tears swell up in her eyes and he resists the urge to wipe away the stray tear that runs down her cheek.

"Samoht... Thomas... I'm so sorry..." she whispers and wipes the tear away. She looks at Lucien, then at the others standing by before returning her gaze to him again. "I want to help... Any way I can, I want to stop Freak Fortress and get you all out of here," she says with a determination that brings a smile to his lips. Billy's own smile grows wider than ever before and literally he begins bouncing off the walls and ceiling in excitement. Steven gives a joyous laugh, his anger for Scout already gone, but Jack is the only one not as happy as his teammates.

"Yeah? How do ya plan t' get us out of 'ere, princess?" he asks.

"I... I'm not sure..." she reluctantly answers. Billy's excitement dies.

"Do not worry about zhat not, Scout," Lucien tells her and moves them up on their feet. "We have plenty of days until zhe next monzh. For now I must take you back to your base."

Scout's eyes are covered once more before Lucien leads her on the journey back to her base. This time she is silent and he can only assume that her mind is processing the events that happened today. He goes into his own thoughts as well during this time. He has achieved outside help and the hope of escape has grown more than it ever has. Then he thinks of the situation he had just put her in. In a way he took advantage of her. She is only two months fresh into the war, only experienced Freak Fortress twice, and now she knows more than her teammates and even her enemies. He has pulled her into a more dangerous world and almost regrets what he has done. If anything, **anything**, ever happens to her, it will be his own fault. Eventually they return back to the base and easily he slips them inside the boundaries. The moment they stop walking he can feel her relax now that she is within familiar surroundings once more. He removes the cloth from her eyes and tucks it away into his jacket.

"You must be incredibly overwhelmed. I apologize for putting you in zhis situation, but we are desperate," he explains, softly and quietly.

"I understand, but I have no idea how I can save you all. Why can't you get everyone out? You seem to be able to move wherever and whenever on your own," she points out.

"If zhat was possible I would have done it years ago," he begins to explain, then gives a soft sigh and explains to her about the tracking chips and how he was the only one spared of the torture. To this day he does not know why he was spared, but he tells her that he refuses to abandon his team, clenching a fist in hatred towards the Administrator, then he relaxes it. "But enough of zhat for now. You need your rest."

"Wait. Before you leave... instead of the name they stuck you with, may I call you by your real name?" she asks. He stays quiet, the mere question of his identity makes him want to smoke again. Never has he given his identity away before and only Jack knows his name. But... Scout has accepted the position she has been put in and the very least he could do is reveal to her his true name. He leans down to her ear and softly whispers his name as if to protect his identity from others that could be around them. Lucien then leans back and tips his fedora.

"Bonne nuit, ma petite Scout," are his last words before he disappears back into the shadows and out of sight, but he does not leave yet. He watches the stunned Scout, her head turning this way and that way as she looks around. When she looks at her base she sees that the lights are off and she quietly hurries inside. Lucien gives a small smile, but it quickly fades as he smells the scent of a cigarette not belonging to him. That is when he notices his replacement standing on the battlements, watching Scout as she ran back inside. He had seen them together and Lucien's worry for Scout grows. They make eye-contact for a moment and Lucien can see the disapproving frown. He looks up at the Spy apologetically before taking his leave.


	10. Part 10

"Moind tellin' me what that was all about, Luc?" Jack asks him, but Lucien does not answer immediately and only puffs at his cigarette. He had just returned to the cave after walking Scout back to her base. Steven and Billy have decided to go to sleep, but Jack stayed up and waited for him, clearly upset about what had just happened. As each silent second passes by, Lucien can see the annoyance and impatience grow within the former Sniper and finally he decides to answer.

"I was getting outside help, Jack. Zhat is zhe one key we are missing to getting zhe hell away from here."

"Oi hoightly doubt th' li'l sheila can do much about this. Fer god sake, mate, she's just a rookie Scout! All ya did was give 'er a death sentence!"

"I will **not** allow her to be harmed!" Lucien snaps at the Aussie and surprises him.

"Whoa there, Luc... Yer not turnin' int' a perv for th' li'l sheila, are ya?"

"Of course not, _idiota_. I know what I have done and I am aware zhat it has put her in possible danger, but I will make sure zhat does not happen."

"'F you say so, Luc... Wait, did ya just call me an idiot? That didn't sound French."

"It was Italian. _Idiot_ would be zhe French word, zhough it is spelled zhe same as zhe American version."

"Since when do ya speak Italian?"

"_Io sono multilingue e un esparto in diverse lingue_."

"**Now** what th' bloody hell did ya say?"

""I am multilingual and an expert in several languages.""

"Gah, just stick with French, will ya? That's already hard enough t' follow."

Lucien smirks and chuckles at his friend. The next days that pass find themselves to be interesting. Unlike the previous RED Scout Billy loathed with a violently playful passion, he always seems to be asking about the new Scout and whether Lucien can bring her back again. Well of course he did not say those exact words, the only words in his vocabulary at the moment being his introduction, bonk, and ma, but the Frenchman can read gestures very well. He is surprised that Billy even wants to see Scout again, but unfortunately he cannot risk bringing her back here nor can he risk the Spy catching him in Teufort again. The memory of that makes him nervous once more and he hopes nothing bad will become of her.

The day grows near to when Billy and Steven have to fight. Billy is hoping to fight against RED this month and Lucien hopes the same; he would rather not see Scout become a consumed victim of Steven's. Both he and Samoht ate as their special ability, but the difference is that Samoht ate them whole. Steven eats them limb by limb. The man has not been doing too well since Samoht's death. The days are too silent without the clicks and cracks of his limbs. He rarely ever leaves Samoht's grave and Lucien fears whatever thoughts could be going through his mind. He seemed happy with the thought of finally escaping this place, but as he looks at his best friend's grave that thought no longer seems to matter. He will not allow anyone to comfort him. Jack so far is the only one that seems unchanged since Scout's visit, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Actually he seems humored by the idea of escaping with this new outside help, but it will most likely be impossible. Nevertheless, Lucien has his mind set on escape once more and outside help is a step in the right direction.

The next event arrives and Billy is happy to learn that he will be fighting against Reliable Excavation Demolition. This also brings a sigh of relief to Lucien, the man happy to know that Scout will not suffer a morbid fate. Billy almost bounces into the first vehicle, but he remembers that the one fighting against Builders League United always goes first, thus he must wait for Steven to board. He is still at the other side of the cave and at Samoht's grave. Never before has Lucien seen the man look in legitimately deep thought, but he is wasting time. Before Lucien can call to him, the chip begins to give Steven a sharp shock. He screams and tries to resist as much as he possibly can, but quickly gives up and continues to scream as he slithers to his vehicle and climbs inside. As soon as the vehicle leaves, Billy jumps into his own transport and departs for battle, leaving Lucien and Jack by themselves. The man gives a sigh and runs his fingers along Sharpy's blade, just barely drawing blood.

"This is more disturbin' than Oi thought it would be..." he admits as he licks the blood from his fingers.

"Of course. We may have had some fun wizh zhis, you and Billy especially, but we are dying again, Jack. None of us have been killed since Freak Fortress began. We **have** to get out of here, for zheir sake," Lucien says and motions to the screen. It comes to life at that exact moment and both men focus their eyes on it.

"Oi, Luc... Think the li'l sheila has a plan?" Jack asks softly.

"If she did, it will be impossible to execute in front of zhose cameras," Lucien answers just as quietly. He had planned to see Scout again when he felt it was safe, but with the possibility of getting caught by both the Administrator **and** his replacement, he felt that it would be too risky no matter what. If she had a plan and needed his help, it is much too late now. Blue and crimson eyes continuously switch back and forth across the two sides of the screen, both trying to pay attention to as much of the fights as they can, but Steven is not fighting. The man is standing motionless in the middle of the battlefield, taking every bullet, bomb, and rocket. He is going to kill himself and Lucien and Jack are completely powerless to stop it. Lucien takes out his case and sees there are only two sticks left, but he slips one out and lights it up. He averts his eyes from Steven's screen to Billy's and sees the boy is having trouble with the rain. He is also unfocused. Billy is only running around the battlefield in a search, not bothering to fight unless he is attacked. He manages to kill the Soldier first, then the Medic, the Heavy, and the Pyro. He has taken out half of the team, but already Lucien can see that he is panting. He has fallen down the large crevice a couple times and once again he is blown back down there from unnoticed sticky bombs. When Billy returns back up to the surface he is ambushed by the Engineer's level three sentry and thrown up into the air by the bullets and rockets. It is only until he is out of the sentry's range that Billy falls back to the ground. The boy is completely bloody and he is sure to have a broken bone or two. He struggles to get up, but it is too hard. Instead he looks forward and reaches out his hand to whatever is off screen, but a bullet to his head ends him. Billy collapses onto the wet grass just before Scout comes into view and falls to her knees in front of him. She holds Billy's outstretched hand tightly in both of hers, then the side turns dark. Steven's side had already darkened minutes earlier, but then the entire screen lights up and **her** face is there, a pleased smirk on her old, wrinkled lips.

"My, my, my, this is **very** interesting. Once again you are all **dying**. Brings back old memories, doesn't it? That leaves only **you two** now. I have to say that it's been fun, gentlemen. I really did enjoy watching you all fight for your lives. I am looking forward to seeing you fight next month," she tells them, smiling her coldhearted smile before the screen turns off and the panels move over the screens. Lucien and Jack stay silent for a moment, slowly taking in the reality that their team is dead and they are all alone. They are the last two members of the original Reliable Excavation Demolition team and for the next half hour they only sit and wait for the vehicle to bring their friends back. When the truck arrives to the fence, neither of them get up just yet. The men roll out the two carts carrying Steven's and Billy's bodies and that is when Jack gives a long sigh and stands.

"Got any spare cigarettes left, Luc?" he asks. Lucien has one stick left, but he does not hesitate to give it to the former Sniper and light it up for him. The Aussie mumbles his thanks before he walks to the carts and pushes them towards the graves. Lucien follows him this time. The Frenchman removes his jacket and picks up the second shovel, then together he and Jack dig two new graves. The job gets done much faster with two gravediggers, but that does not make it easier mentally. Slowly they move Steven in the first grave right next to Samoht, then after Billy is in the last one they pause. Billy was so young. He had his whole life ahead of him that he was going to spend back at home when the war ended. He always talked about that he was going to go home, straight out his life on the streets, find a cute girl, get married, have kids; all of that. Billy wanted to be the biggest baseball star in the world and break every record imaginable.

"Do not bury Billy yet..." Lucien mutters before he leaves Jack's side for a moment to fetch the bucket of water and bar of soap. He then returns to Billy's side and with gentle care he begins to wash the blood from the boy's face. Jack silently encourages him to take his time while he shovels the dirt over Steven's body. Soon Billy's face is clean, but heartbreakingly cold and lifeless when it should be full of life and cheer. Lucien takes the other shovel into his hands again and slowly begins to bury the boy. Jack is left to mark the graves while Lucien puts out his last cigarette.

"See ya, Spazzy. Don't forget about us when ya become that big baseball star up there," Jack mumbles softly to the grave before standing back up on his feet. Lucien watches him take a long drag of his cigarette.

"I am going to go see Scout tonight," he tells the Aussie. "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, Oi'll be foine. Go 'head an' see 'er," he replies. The rest of the day is spent in silence. When the sun falls and the moon raises Lucien double checks with Jack about leaving. Once he confirms that he will be fine, Lucien departs and heads back to Teufort's base. He is not worried about the Administrator now. He is not worried about the Spy either. Both bases are dark by the time he arrives. Without missing a beat he passes through the boundary and sneaks around the back with quiet steps. It has been so many years, but his memory is on his side and he knows the exact window that belongs to the Scout. He scales up the wall, using broken planks of wood for help until he reaches the open window and hears the faint sound of crying. Quietly he creeps onto the sill and couches in the window. The room is dark, the door is locked, and there she is with her face buried into her pillow.

"Scout," he calls to her softly. She lifts her head from the pillow and looks in his direction.

"Lucien...! I'm sorry, it's all my fault—"

"Non, non, calm down, Scout," he tells her and steps inside the room. Lucien takes a seat on the bedside and hands the sobbing Scout a small napkin. "Take deep breazhs." Scout takes and napkin, following his instruction to take deep breaths before she uses the napkin to wipe her tears.

"I'm sorry..." she repeats. "I tried to save him..."

"You did zhe best you could do," he tells her.

"But he was right there, Lucien! He was so close to me, and the look on his face... That terrified look..."

"It is alright, Scout," he assures her and wraps his arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. "Zhere is nozhing more we can do, so it is best to zhink zhat Billy is in a better place now."

"... That's true..." she agrees and sets the napkin down. "I just wish I could've been quicker... Wh-Who fought BLU?" she asks him, her glassy blue eyes looking at him and screaming for hope. He only frowns and turns his eyes to the floor.

"Steven is dead as well, but he did not fight zhis time. Zhe zhought of escaping Freak Fortress was wonderful at zhe time, but zhen he zhought of life after zhat. Zhe way he clicked wizh every movement, zhe way he always had a hidden desire to eat; he did not want to continue living as a **freak**, especially wizhout Samoht."

"... How... How close were they...?"

"Very close, zhough not in any forbidden way. It was Samoht's insecurity zhat bought zhem to be as close as brozhers."

"Oh... and... what happened to the others...? The ones before I joined RED..."

Lucien explains to her about his teammates' demises, how Heavy and Pyro were killed during the experiments and how Adrian and Robert were killed during the first event of Freak Fortress. She listens to every word as he talks about how Adrian tried to save them, but instead fell victim just like the rest of them. Lucien then talks about Heinrich and how he never left the sewer he was so happily swimming in. Then he talks about how Billy was the first of them to ever survive Freak Fortress and the mention of the boy brings the tears back to her eyes. She turns her head away and dabs the new tears with the napkin.

"Scout," he calls her attention again. "It is only Jack and I now. We were zhe last to be experimented on, so we are more perfected zhan zhe ozhers were. We will last a while, but I do not know how much longer and I cannot leave him behind. I apologize, Scout. I did not mean to put you in zhis situation, but from now on I want you to forget about us."

"No," she quickly rejects and looks directly into his eyes. "I can't do that, Lucien, not now that I know what's going on."

"Please, Scout. It was a mistake trying to get you involved in zhis dangerous situation. I was blinded by desperation to save my team," he explains to her. Scout turns her head away, unwilling to listen, but he takes her chin and turns her head back. "Look at me, ma petite Scout. Jack and I will be alright. He is zhe only one I have to be concerned about now, but for your own safety, **please** forget about us. Do zhat for me," he pleads with her. Scout is silent, but she adverts her eyes and nods. This brings him relief. He has not known the little Scout for long nor has he had much time with her. Through the past three months since he had first met her, through all that time he has only talked to her for only an hour total, maybe two. Yet, despite that, she is important to him, almost as important as Jack. He removes his hands from her and stands. She watches him as he walks back to the window and steps up.

"Bonne nuit, Scout. Stay safe," are his last words before Lucien disappears out of the window. He does not see the Spy this time as he leaves the boundaries and heads back to "home sweet home". Jack is still awake by the time he returns with a thoughtful look on his face. As Lucien steps in through the wall, Jack stands up and walks over to him.

"How is she?"

"Upset over Billy. I told her to forget about us."

"Ahh... Decoided t' protect 'er, eh?"

"... Oui," Lucien answers in confusion. Jack gives a small, subtle smile to himself.

"Oi figured it out earlier. 'Er eyes are similar t' yours and you were bein' protective when ya brought 'er 'ere. Don't forget Oi see everythin', mate," he explains to the Frenchman. Lucien does not reply, but Jack does not need the confirmation. Instead he runs his fingers along Sharpy's side and begins a new topic. "Oi've been thinkin' about other things while you were gone. We're the last ones left now an' Oi'm th' only one holdin' ya back, but there's no way you're gonna abandon me, roight?"

"Non," is Lucien's quick reply.

"That's what Oi thought, so instead Oi want ya t' do somethin' fer me. When Oi die, Luc, Oi want ya t' bury me an' get th' hell away from 'ere," Jack tells him.

""When"? Are you becoming tired?"

"Nah, but Oi will someday. Yer the perfect super bein'. Oi'm not fer a reason Oi don't know yet. So, will ya do that for me, Luc?"

"... Oui. Of course I will, Jack."

"Thanks, mate. Les' get some sleep."


	11. Part 11

Lucien cannot remember the last time he felt so stressed before. It has only been a week and a half, yet he has already run out of his renewed bundle of cigarettes. As much as he does not want to, he has just about given up on all plans and hopes for escaping, especially now that he has let go the one connect he had with the outside world. Despite this, freedom seems closer than ever now, but it is just out of reach. Jack is the only one bound by the chip now. Often Lucien had found himself just looking at the former Sniper, mainly at his head to see if he could notice the chip or see the scar from the past surgery, but even if he managed to find it, there would be no one to do the surgery to remove it. Whenever Jack would catch Lucien worrying about him he would slap the former Spy on the back and tell him to quit worrying. Jack will not be leaving any time soon, not for a long while.

The weeks pass by until the next event day arrives. Before she had even announced it, Lucien knew he would be fighting against Builders League United while Jack faced Reliable Excavation Demolition. His feelings are mixed about this. He would rather not have to kill Scout after last month's encounter, but then again he would rather do it than have Jack put his stab-happy hands on her. The Australian seems very happy that he will be against her team and Lucien quickly speaks up to him.

"Jack, please do me a favour," he says.

"Hm? Whattaya want me t' do with 'er?" Jack asks with a smirk. Lucien gives him a stern look.

"Absolutely nozhing. I know how much you enjoy dismembering bodies and bazhing in zheir blood, but **do not** cause Scout too much pain and be gentle with her."

"Aw, Luc, but that's no fun—"

"Swear it, Jack."

"Gah, foine, Oi swear not t' harm the li'l sheila too much."

Lucien nods his approval before he steps into his vehicle and is driven away. His mind is distracted during the couple hours of the drive, thoughts of Jack's wellbeing and Scout swimming in his head, but as he finally arrives to his battlefield he becomes focused once more. This time he fights more seriously with his list of priorities instead of playing around, a tactic he has not done in years. He moves hurriedly before they can catch on, first taking out the Medic and then the Engineer. Lucien leaves the Heavy alive for now, the Russian no longer that important to him now without the doctor, and instead he aims for the Demoman. The Scotsman is taken out with ease along with the Soldier and soon enough the Pyro. Everyone else is an easy target now. Lucien kills the Heavy now, then luckily enough he spots the Spy just as his cloak wears off and stabs him before he could realize his danger. Only the Scout and the Sniper remain. Surprisingly enough he has one bullet left in his gun and uses it on the Scout. The Sniper does not last much longer before Lucien finds him and ends his life. He does not hear the Administrator give her usual sarcastic praise. In fact he did not pay much attention to his surroundings and only focused on killing the enemy team. Silently he returns back to his starting area and back into the vehicle to begin the long drive "home". Lucien takes one of his new cancer sticks and lights it up in a small celebration as he does after every fight. He is in a strange mood at the moment, one that he cannot describe too well. He is not happy, not sad, not angry; Lucien is not in any particular mood for anything right now. He blames it on the bad feeling in his gut as his mind returns to Jack one more.

When Lucien returns to the cave he notices that he is the first one to make it back. That comes as no surprise seeing as how Jack enjoys his work and Lucien decided to kill more quickly this time. He looks over at the screen, but it is covered. This worries him at first, but then he remembers that there is no one here to watch them fight anymore. Lucien takes a seat near the fence and finds himself playing the waiting game, a game that slowly lasts over an hour. Lucien turns his head and looks out, but there is no vehicle in sight. He glances at the screen, but there is no change there either. Lucien shakes his head and lights up his third cigarette. Jack must be taking his sweet time butchering up the REDs before he has to end his fun with killing Scout painlessly. However, more hours begin to pass and the sun begins to set. Lucien has gone through his entire case by now with the last stick just a stub between his lips. He sucks as much as he can out of it before spitting it away from him and into the discarded pile of the other short stubs. Eyes quickly glance over to the screen, but it is still covered. There has been no word from the Administrator and too much time has passed. Lucien begins to fear the worst. Slowly he stands up and walks to the darker parts of the cave to where the graves are. He looks at them, slowly, his eyes lingering on one grave before moving to the next, starting with Mikhail Klimov, their Heavy.

_"Da, but leetle Soldier und Engineer are good friends! Make good team like Doktor und I."_

Pyro.

"_Mhmpf."_

Adrian Laurent, Lucien's counterpart.

"_I saw you and your team board a random train yesterday, zhen when you didn't show up to today's battle I followed the tracks."_

Robert DeGroot, their Demoman.

"_Quit yer frettin' over a little nickname, boyo. Ye give us much worse names than that."_

Heinrich Vogel, their Medic.

"_Vell zhen, if ve are all done celebrating for zhe night, I suggest you all go to bed early in preparation for your checkups tomorrow."_

Thomas Smith, their Engineer.

"_Aw, shucks, you were good out there too, mister."_

Steven Rogers, their Soldier.

"_The rest of you did good, too. We had some real good teamwork out there, especially from you, crouton."_

Billy Lynch, their Scout.

"_Yeah, yeah, you're all real buddy-buddy, ain'tcha?"_

After Billy's grave is an untouched spot where Lucien quickly imagines Jack's grave. He bites his lower lip and covers his eyes. Jack **cannot** be dead already, he just can't! He was doing so well and not once did he ever show weakness or tiredness. Even after all these years, Jack was **still** at the top of his game, even better than before. He cannot be dead... Did the Administrator have something to do with this? Just because they all started dying again, did she rig Jack's fight so that he would die? Is Jack really gone...? Lucien does not want to think about it any further. His entire team is now dead and he is left alone. He cannot even fulfill Jack's wish to bury him. As much as Jack would be screaming at him right now, Lucien does not leave. He does not feel the strength in his legs to walk him outside and away from this place.

"Lucien? Are you back there?"

The former Spy's head snaps up. Did he hear that voice just now? Or is his mind playing tricks on him out of depression? He looks over at the fence and is shocked to see Scout standing there and trying to peek in. He hurries over and touches the fence, staring down at her in shock and confusion.

"Scout? Why are you here? **How** did you get here?" he asks.

"Spy helped me, but I don't think we have much time to explain. Jack is with us, so we have to go as soon as possible," she explains.

"Jack is alive?" he asks, his eyes widening in disbelief. Scout smiles at this.

"C'mon, let's get goin'," she says. Lucien does not need to be told twice and he hurries outside. Jack is **alive**, on the outside world! This is their chance!

"Where is he?" he asks her.

"In zhe back of zhe truck," his replacement answers for him. The two look at each other with similar expressions, but Lucien is surprised to see the man standing here and helping him. Lucien glances just over the Spy's shoulder and he sees the said truck hidden in the shadows. "He is only sleeping at zhe moment and zhe chip is completely removed," Spy continues to explain and the hope rises into a mountain. He actually removed the chip! Now Jack is no longer bound! "I suggest zhe zhree of you leave quickly before zhe Administrator notices his body is not at West."

""Zhree of you"?" Lucien questions the Spy, the statement throwing him completely off-guard. He notices Scout is just as confused as he is. Spy exhales a soft sigh and turns his focus to his young teammate.

"Zhere is somezhing I must tell you, Scout. Zhey were suspicious of you from zhe very beginning, zhe **very second** he first talked to you during your first Freak Fortress event. Zhe second zhey find zhe body missing, she will go straight to you for questioning. I do not know how to save you from zhat, so you must go wizh zhem," he explains.

"Oh..." is all Scout can say, a hint of sadness to her tone. Lucien can only assume she does not want to be separated from her team.

"Where are zhey taking zheir suspicions from?" he asks his replacement.

"It is mainly a hunch zhat zhey suspect Scout if somezhing were to ever happen. Zhat, and she was technically zhe only one left alive when your friend suddenly "died". If anyzhing, I put her in a worse position..."

"If zhey do not have physical proof or any hard evidence, zhen she should be fine... but it is risky..."

"Hey, hold up a sec," Scout interrupts. Both Lucien and the Spy focus their attention on her. "Unless they got me on camera or somethin', there's really no proof I'm involved, right? I almost want to go with, but I think it would be better if I went back to Teufort with Spy. If I'm around, they'll take the time to question me or interrogate me or whatever an' give you guys a better chance to get the hell away from here."

"Scout, if zhey find out you have been associating wizh us—"

"Please, Lucien. Lemme do this, alright? You an' Jack need to get as far away from this place as possible," she tells him firmly, a determined look in her eyes.

"... Are you sure you want to do zhis, Scout...?"

"Yeah. It'll be okay, Lucien. Don't even worry about it," she tells him with her best comforting grin as if the world was perfect. Lucien smiles at this, but he is still very much worried. He leans down, takes one of Scout's bandaged hands into his own and kisses the bare fingers.

"_Merci beaucoup_, Scout. We will never forget you," he thanks her, then stands straight and looks at his replacement more seriously. "_Please take care of her_," he requests while speaking in his native language.

"_But of course_," the Spy replies just the same. "Go ahead and take zhe truck. We can easily walk back."

Lucien nods his thanks and gives Scout another look. She gives him another assuring smile and he returns a small one before walking to the rent-a-truck. First he peeks in the back and is relieved to see Jack lying peacefully, but with his hat resting on his stomach, Sharpy on the floor, and a bandage on his head. He would almost think he was dead if Jack's chest was not moving with each breath. Lucien then hops in the driver's seat and gives one last look at Scout. Even after he had told her to forget about them, she managed to receive the Spy's help and successfully helped them escape. He has so much to owe her if they ever meet again one day. Although it has been a while, Lucien easily remembers how to use the truck and begins to drive far, far away from that horrible prison.


	12. Part 12

It is very late into the night, perhaps in the early hours of the morning now, but Lucien has not stopped driving. The more distance he puts between them and the cave, the better chance they have to disappear before the she-devil can even think about going after them. He takes a small glance downward and is happy to see the truck still has over half a tank in it. Unfortunately they have no money for any essentials or more gas. Lucien may have to steal items and siphon from a station, but that will be more than easy for a man in his profession. After a little while longer, Lucien can hear a groan coming from the backseats. He slows the truck to a stop and looks back to see Jack slowly coming back to the world, rubbing his eyes and then touching the bandage on his head.

"Augh... th' fu—... me head..." he mumbles to himself.

"How are you feeling, Jack?" Lucien asks him.

"Luc...?" Jack focuses his eyes at his teammate, then finally takes notices of his new surroundings. "Where the hell are we...?"

"We're free, Jack. Far away from zhat wretched place," the Frenchman answers.

"Yer kiddin'," Jack sits up and holds his head again. He looks around again and sees that they really are outside and far away from anything familiar. "What the hell happened?"

"I do not know how zhey did it or how zhey faked your deazh, but Scout and zhe Spy removed your chip and gave us zhe truck," Lucien explains happily. Jack stares at him in shock, but as the reality sets in he gives a wide smile and leans back.

"Wow. Th' li'l sheila actually got us out. Oi wish Oi was conscious so Oi could've thanked 'er. Ah, don't start droivin' yet. Lemme move up to the front first."

Jack moves his hat back on his head and grabs his beloved knife before exiting the truck to take the passenger's seat in the front. The two survivors of Freak Fortress continue driving through the night. Eventually Lucien finds himself getting tired and after some convincing from Jack they decide to pull over somewhere safe in the shadows and sleep for the night. The next day is an interesting one, though. Lucien and Jack have gone into town for the first time in years, but they could only stay long enough for Lucien to steal food, beer, cleaning items, and siphon gas. He got away with it flawlessly. For the rest of the day they had talked about what they were going to do or where they were going to go. The answer for both questions is the same: they have no idea. The only thing they have agreed on so far is that they cannot run away forever. They need a hideout, a perfect place to settle down in that is also close to town so they can grab supplies whenever needed. As the sun slowly falls out of the sky the duo are still out on the road searching for home sweet home, but so far they have yet to find anything close.

"Oi dunno, Luc. At this rate we moight as well just leave the bleedin' country. There's no way we can completely run from this," Jack tells his friend.

"Mm... I suppose you are right... It will be almost impossible to leave since we are considered dead to zhe world and no longer have identity," Lucien replies.

"Eh, worth a shot, roight? 'S not loike we got anythin' t' lose," Jack says with a shrug.

"True. Where should we go zhen?"

"Not sure yet. Thought about goin' back t' Oz, but there's really nowhere t' go there. Moi parents never loiked me all that much, so they definitely won't loike me now, _heh heh heh_."

"Heh... Hm... Zhere is no possible way we can go to France..."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

Lucien is not able to answer as suddenly a very loud noise is heard from above them followed by a bright light shining through the windshield. Quickly he steps on the brake and the truck skids to a stop. It is a helicopter that has stopped them and landed not too far away from them. Cautiously Lucien and Jack step out of the truck, their knives in hand as they watch a familiar man step out of the dark helicopter. It is not a man they know, but it is one of those generic men the Administrator sends with those mini televisions strapped to their chests. The man opens his coat and reveals said television, that she-devil appearing on the screen with her usual smirk.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Have you enjoyed your freedom so far?" she asks.

"If yer here t' drag us back there, ya got another thing comin'," Jack threatens and holds his knife tight.

"Put your toy down, Mr. Mason. I am not here to take you back surprisingly enough, though we will be taking our truck back," she tells him as another man steps out of the helicopter, hops in the truck, and drives it back in the opposite direction. They watch him go before returning focus to the woman on the screen.

"Zhen why are you here?" Lucien questions. The Administrator only gives a wide smirk.

"I want to show you a video and my men want to give you a present," she answers, then suddenly the screen turns to static. In seconds the static disappears and shows another generic henchman of the Administrator's, this time a doctor. His face is the camera's center of attention as he makes adjustments, then as he steps aside Lucien almost drops his balisong as Scout appears on the screen. The background is the familiar laboratory he and his team were once put in, only this time the machine is long gone. Everything Redmond had used on them is gone, the laboratory near empty, but there are new things now. Scout is strapped down tightly to a table and surrounding her are two doctors with their many serums and needles. At first she is quiet and only panting out of panic, her cheeks stained in tears, but as the first doctor steps close to her with a syringe she begins to scream at him. The other two have to keep her still despite the straps as he pokes the needle just above the crease of her left arm.

"_Stop it! Stop it, please, take the needle out! TAKE IT OUT!"_ she screams and twists her arm, painfully ripping the needle out upwards. Blood begins to spill quickly from the slit and down onto the table, but the doctors are quick to press bandages over the wound. The needle had also caught onto Scout's sleeve and tore it right off. More restraints are thrown on her and more needles poke into her arms. Her cries of pain and torture squeeze Lucien's heart too tight. Suddenly she drops limp on the table and soon after the screen turns to static once more. Lucien's lip trembles as he thinks the worst, that their freedom was only possible with Scout's death as the consequence. Jack stomps up to the messenger, grabbing him by his coat and shoving Sharpy against his neck.

"**What have you done with her**?" he growls. The messenger, frightened by the brutal man, only points back at the helicopter as a Scout's body is lowered out and onto the ground. The men quickly return inside before they fly off, leaving the trio alone and stranded. Lucien is quickly down on his knees at Scout's side, his eyes widening at her new appearance. Her once brown hair has now turned dark gray and her skin a ghostly white. His fingers trace over the torn sleeve, over a fresh burn mark from a cigarette, and then down to where the syringe had ripped out of her arm, the wound still fresh, but no longer bleeding. There is a note attached to her shirt and gently he removes it to read. Freak Fortress is officially over, but as punishment he and Jack must fend for themselves while taking care of "the newest freak". Scout is not allowed to be near heat nor is she allowed to see the sun ever again. The second paragraph is directed at Scout, telling her that associating with him and Jack has caused her to become one of them and that she will be replaced. Her team will soon forget she ever existed, but the last line slaps his face and brings a tear to his eye.

_Enjoy your new eternal life, Night Walker._

Lucien looks at Scout again as Jack takes the note from him. He reaches out and gently touches her cheek with his fingers. It is cold, but he wonders if that is her new normal body temperature now. He did this to her. Out of the selfishness to save his own team he risked two lives that did not need to be involved. It is his fault that Scout is now dead to the world.

The hours pass and by now the sun has completely fallen out of the sky. Without their rent-a-truck, all Lucien and Jack have done was sit by Scout's side and wait for her to wake up so they could travel together. The idea of carrying her came up, but after what he has read, Lucien is too afraid to allow her near their body heat. Any kind of heat source is now her worst enemy according to the note, but he does not know the definite temperature that is too much. Luckily there is still plenty of time before the sun will rise, so they do not mind waiting. Both Lucien and Jack do not feel the energy in their legs to move anyway.

"Lucien, it's not yer fault," Jack reminds him. The Australian can tell by the look in the Frenchman's eyes **exactly** what he is thinking right now.

"I am zhe one zhat brought her into zhis, Jack. I should have just left her alone..."

"There was no way anyone could've seen this happenin', Luc. If ya knew, ya wouldn't've asked for 'er help in th' first place. This is all that she-devil's fault, remember that."

"But if I did not see her—"

"One link in th' chain, mate! There were a bunch 'a things that could've stopped this. Stop blamin'—"

"Spy...? Snipes…?"

Both men become silent. Their eyes quickly focus on Scout as she sits up, her eyes on the ground as her mind tries to focus.

"Sorry, love. We're not yer teammates," Jack tells her, a hint of sadness in his tone. Scout looks at them, her eyes switching back and forth in confusion. Lucien notices that the baby blues have now turned into a matching gray color like her hair. It is as if the bright colors have been completely drained from her.

"Jack? Lucien? Where—... What's wrong? Why do you guys look like that...?" she asks softly. Neither Lucien nor Jack say a word as they look at each other. As much as he does not want to, Lucien scoots over to Scout's side and shows her the note, unable to tell her any other way.

"I am sorry, Scout..." is all he can say to her. Scout looks at the note with uncertainty, but gathers the courage to take it from his hand and read it slowly. He watches her expression as her eyes scan over each word. She seems to pause for a second before reading a line over again, then as she continues her face slowly expresses shock and disbelief. Her hands begin to tremble and her eyes begin to water. As she reads the last lines she quickly crumples the note and tosses it away, curling up into a tight ball as sobs begin to rack her body. Seeing this makes Lucien's heart break and more than anything he wants to pull his little Scout into his arms, rub her back and tell her that everything will be okay, that he and Jack will take care of her and protect her with their lives, but he does not move. He is too afraid to burn her.

Scout has calmed down by the next day; slowly she has accepted her new life as a freak, but of course it will take much more time to get used to it. Lucien and Jack are no longer under the pressure of running away in fear of being captured, so when Scout asked to see her team one last time they were more than happy to help lead her back. It is the second day after the last event where the team should be doing battle in Sawmill. Thankfully the dark clouds have obscured the sun and the rain has helped to keep Scout's body down to a low temperature. Lucien and Jack are giving her space as she watches her old team fight over the single control point from a hidden place out of bounds. Just as the note had promised, Scout had been replaced with an obnoxious and cowardly boy. Spy had also been replaced; Scout had told him and Jack about how Spy was killed when he and Scout were captured at the end of their payload mission in Badwater yesterday. She had also told them the burn mark came from the Administrator and their loathing for the she-devil grows. As Scout watches her old team she is flipping Spy's balisong in her left hand; Lucien never would have guessed that she was ambidextrous.

"Oi think it's about toime we left fer some koind of shelter. Th' rain won't last all day," Jack tells Lucien. The Frenchman nods before walking over to Scout. In the distance he can hear RED's Soldier scream to the new recruits about how they will never be as good as their predecessors and Lucien can see the smile appear on Scout's lips.

"It is time to go. Are you ready, Night Walker?" he asks her, giving emphasis to the name she was given by the she-devil. Scout flips her balisong closed and tucks it into her pocket before turning to face Lucien.

"Yeah, but please call me Robin," she tells him, introducing herself for the first time. Lucien gives her a small smile and is happy to see her return it. The Administrator may have changed her, but she is still his little Scout and she always will be. Lucien begins to hum the children's song _Neige, Neige Blanche_ as they walk away.

* * *

**Credits**

Robin McCarthy/Night Walker belongs to Jay1393 (The Freakin' Scout's A Spy!)  
Freak Fortress 2, based on VS Saxton Hale Mode, belongs to RainBolt Dash and FlaminSarge, edit by RavensBro  
Gentlespy belongs to Swaitis  
Christian Brutal Sniper belongs to KelThuzadMadness  
Ass Pancakes belongs to TheInvertedShadow  
Painis Cupcake belongs to RubberFruit  
Vagineer belongs to J16FOX  
Sewer Medic belongs to gb7zone7  
Demopan belongs to ichbinpwnzilla  
Ninja Spy belongs to Dr. Face/69starmix96  
RED and BLU belong to TF Industries  
TF Industries belongs to Team Fortress 2  
Team Fortress 2 belongs to VALVe  
VALVe belongs to Gabe Newell  
Everyone belongs to Gaben

Names given to the "freaks" are of course unofficial an' were made up on the spot.

Special thanks to:

Lucky  
Jaüri  
FooSKA  
Demented  
BeautifulDoom  
Baffin

Once again, couldn't have continued this little fic without you guys supportin' me.

Shoutouts

Xguy110  
Guest  
Ludvig Pootis  
3-D Jak  
Pootis

Thanks for the reviews, guys. Though The Lost RED Team didn't get as many reviews,  
as Freak Fortress, every review counts an' still tells me at least some people are  
enjoyin' it.

smokeydirtcat  
3Chris28  
OBsesSeD MeGaTroN faNgiRL  
smash619  
astridtjejen  
Wheatgrass1

Thanks for puttin' The Lost RED Team on your favourites/follow lists, it means a lot!  
Hope ya enjoyed the ride!

Last minute words:

3-D Jak: At the time when I was writin' Freak Fortress, I couldn't really think  
of any freaks that used Heavy or Pyro models that were also in the actual  
VSH an' FF2 gameplay. Sewer Medic's the only exception. That, an' it was kind 'a  
tough for me ta write with everyone an' make sure they each had some decent  
screen time. I hope ya enjoyed the fic anyway, though.

Lazer Cat: I'm not sure if you're readin' this or not, but I remember you  
sayin' somethin' about Weaselcake in the first Freak Fortress fic, so I thought  
I'd throw him in for that very brief moment in part three. 'S not much, but I  
wanted ta do somethin' anyway.

Thanks again to everyone who took time out 'a their lives to read this fic.  
My friends, my reviewers, my followers, all the anonymous people lurkin'  
in the shadows waitin' ta strike when the time is right; thanks again, you're all  
awesome people. In case it hasn't been noticed, a picture of Isabelle, a link  
to the children's song Lucien's been hummin', an' some alternate pictures of  
Robin an' Night Walker are in my profile now, too. There's also a Smissmas  
Special I wrote circling around the trio if anyone's interested in that.

I just wanna say thanks again for followin' this story. 'S not as popular  
as Freak Fortress, but I'm glad some people enjoyed it anyway. So I  
especially wanna thank all 'a ya that stuck through to the very end. I  
thought about doin' some kind 'a sequel to the original fic, had some ideas,  
but I might lay off on that 'til later. Or you guys can tell me whatcha think  
if ya read this far through the credits. Lookin' forward ta hearin' from anyone  
about anything an' I'll see ya guys next time!


End file.
